


Skyggemenn

by LadyIrina



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Billy is trying to become a better person, Billy needs TLC, Billy's piece of shit dad and all the warnings that comes with him, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Steve is a stressed mom, Steve provides
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-07-12 03:30:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19939486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/pseuds/LadyIrina
Summary: Billy is trying to piece together a new life after the battle in the mall, despite lingering nightmares and guilt. He has gone from being all alone to being a partner, a friend, a boyfriend, a big brother, a strict dad and an adoptive son. And he's got Steve Harrington to thank for it all.But then, to Billy's despair, the nightmare becomes real...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, if you want the backstory on how Billy and Steve ended up together, I recommend you read my other story; "I want you to stay" ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/19713259/chapters/46653115 )  
> but this is technically a stand-alone story, so it's not mandatory to understanding the plot.
> 
> I debated with myself for a long time whether or not to post this, but I decided to give it a go. Let me know what you think!  
> (I'm still not over Billy's fate in season 3. He deserved better! Him and Alexei both!)

Three months. It's been three months since the battle in the mall that nearly cost Billy his life. That summer evening seems awfully distant now that they're in the middle of October where they are wearing thick jackets and heavy boots to battle the cold and waiting for Halloween to arrive.  
The cooler weather is far from the only thing that has changed since then.

In a picnic area inside a small forest in Hawkins, a campfire is burning brightly in the darkness on this particular evening and three young teenagers are sitting around it. Nearby, a blue Camaro is parked where the gravel path curves into the camping area and where it is half-hidden from the teenagers by some trees and wild-growing shrubbery. 

Billy is resting against the side of his car, leaning back on his elbows, while Steve Harrington is cupping his face with both of his hands, has the entire length of his body up against his, and they are both mindlessly lost in a drawn out kiss that is approaching a new record for them.  
It's a slow and lazy thing, this kiss, a hot and wet slide. It's enough to cause a sweet sting of slow-burning arousal, but not enough to make them inclined to take it further. After all, it's no more than two hours ago that they were at it in Billy's bed like there was no tomorrow and it's pretty cold here.

Still, the way Steve feels against him, how perfectly his mouth shapes itself to his, Billy is starting to sorely regret agreeing to bring the kids out to this place to heat up some shitty hot dogs over open flames.  
Ever since Steve and his children had made themselves at home in Billy's life, Billy has watched himself slowly turn disgustingly soft and agrees to their requests more than not, but if it comes down to choosing between Steve's body and Max sulking for a week; the choice is easy!

“Steve.” A voice calls out. “Steve, come on, man. How long does it take to get some hot dogs? Are you sure you guys left them in the car?”  
Billy smiles into the kiss when Steve fails to react at all, despite that voice belonging to his favorite son, and rewards him with a lewd caress from his tongue that has Steve shuddering against him.  
“Steve, come on, man,” Dustin whines and his voice is noticeably closer. There is the sound of footsteps on gravel. “I'm starving. What... Dude! Gross!”

Steve opens his eyes like he's waking from a dream, gloriously dazed, and pulls back a little to glance over at where Dustin is standing on the path and glaring at them. “What?”

Dustin rolls his eyes. “Hot dogs! Remember? You were supposed to get the hot dogs. I doubt you'll find them down his throat.”  
Billy sends Dustin his most brazen and unapologetic grin.

The first time Dustin had caught them, a couple of weeks ago, the boy had been horrified. Not so much that he minded Steve kissing a boy, but kissing **Billy**? Douchebag Billy? Okay, so he was a lot nicer than before, but still! Suzie had an older sister. Did Steve want her phone number?  
Billy, more than a little upset over getting caught, honestly didn't know how to respond to that.  
Steve, however, had merely countered with smug confidence, “What can I say? He's hot.” and after that; word had spread among Steve's kids, who all were pretty surprised but eventually fine with it. To Billy's surprise. 

It was even weirder to realize he trusted them not to broadcast it. While Billy had decided it was none of Susan's business, he didn't give a shit what his former friends thought and he didn't think Chief Hopper would have a problem with it, he didn't seem like that kind of guy, Billy would still hear his father's toxic words occasionally and he preferred to keep it private, just in case. 

By the Camaro, still dazed, Steve blinks under the glare of Dustin and searches for the ability to speak. “Uh, yeah, I... Sorry. I'll get right on that.” He glances back at Billy.  
Billy's grin widens, turns evil, and he leans slightly forward to lick his way into Steve's mouth again, taunting and easing him into yet another kiss.

“Oh come on! Seriously gross!” Dustin exclaims.

Steve shudders and there is a faint groan deep in his throat, but he doesn't pull back before Billy does and then he is more than a little out of breath. “I think some of the things you can do with that tongue is illegal in certain states, Hargrove...”  
The gesture Billy's gives him with his tongue leaves Steve still caught in his spell.

“Is there something in the air here?” Dustin shouts. “I had to flee from those two and now you're even more gross?”  
Steve can't take his eyes off Billy's mouth. “What are you talking about?”  
“Max and Lucas!” Dustin says.

“What?” Billy snaps his gaze over at Dustin. “What about them?”

Dustin flings his hands up. “First they're all into each other's faces, and then I find you two...”

He doesn't get to finish his sentence because Billy shoves Steve back a step and stalks off towards the campfire. When they'd left the house earlier, Susan had asked him to keep an eye on Max, _asked_ in that timid voice of hers, not ordered like his father used to do, and Billy is damn well going to do exactly that.

“Billy, wait!” Steve calls out as both he and Dustin scrambles to follow him.

-

Sitting by the fire, there is no mistaking Max leaning into Lucas and that their faces are too close for anything else than them kissing.  
“Max!” Billy barks, causing the teenagers to jump in their seats. When he's close enough, he stands towering above them and glares bloody murder at both. “Just what do you two think you're doing?”

Lucas yelps and cowers, but Max glares back up at him, defiant. There was that shitty attitude again. “What? It's not like you and Steve don't do the same thing whenever you get the chance.”

Billy leans down, getting into her space. “Well, shitbird, I'm not a kid. And it's not likely that I'll knock Steve Harrington up, is it?”

Max recoils, shocked and embarrassed beyond words. “God, you're so stupid!” Behind her, Lucas' mouth drops open in stunned disbelief at Billy's words.

“Okay, hey, hey!” Steve steps forward, gets between Billy and Max, facing Max and placing a hand against Billy's chest. “Enough.” He glances quickly back at Billy, signaling with his eyes for him to back off and he reluctantly does. “Dustin, you and Billy get the hot dogs. I'll stay here. And everyone will keep their faces to themselves for the rest of the night. Yes? Yes.”

“Come on.” Dustin says, shoving at Billy's hip and he reluctantly follows the favorite son back to the Camaro and finds the damn food.

By the time they come back, Billy sees Steve wrapping up whatever talk he's had with Max and she favors Billy with only the faintest of sour glances before she focuses on Lucas and the fire instead. Billy makes a mental note to ask Steve later just what he said to her. He also notices that the mood between all has now turned tense and wary.  
It brings a tight feeling of unease to Billy's chest. He feels like an outsider again, a troublemaker, like when he first started to get to know Steve and his brood, and he hates that he doesn't like it. He hesitates before approaching the campfire again, but Steve waves him over like he's forgiven. Billy's dad always made him pay a price when he upset him, surely it can't be this easy?

Strangely enough, though, thirty minutes later, the argument appears forgotten and even Billy finds himself with a faint smile as the chatter and laughter flows freely around the fire. The lukewarm and/or scorched hot dogs even tastes good. The unease inside his chest slowly unfurls and lets go.  
He notices Steve looking at him and he's glad the darkness and the flickering light from the flames hides the faint flush he feels at the affection he sees in those dark eyes. It's still overwhelming. It's still hard to believe.

There are days when Billy feels a bit like his old self, confident and smug, but it never lasts for long. He still has horrible nightmares about what the Flayer made him do, he still sees Heather's terrified eyes and hears himself screaming for someone to help him. And every time he takes off his shirt, he sees the ragged and twisted scars that makes him wear t-shirts and big sweaters instead of letting his shirts hang open to show off his well-trained body. This, in addition to how he continues to struggle to contain his anger and not flinch at men raising their voices (He still hasn't heard from his father.) makes him feel pathetic. But throughout it all; Steve keeps looking at him like that.  
Like Billy is actually worth something.  
Like Billy is something, someone, Steve wants to keep.

Billy suspects he looks at Steve much in the same way, because whatever Steve sees in his eyes at that moment, it makes him duck his head a little, almost shy, and the smile turns even sweeter.  
Fuck, why had Billy agreed to this stupid thing, when they could have been back home and going for round three?

As if he'd read his mind, Steve suddenly gets up and clears his throat. “I, uh, I'm gonna get me another soda. Which is in the car. So, yeah, I'll just... go to the car and get me one.”

Everyone is giving him a weird look, confused by his random statement, except for Billy who is struggling to smother a smile, as it yet again proves that Steve doesn't mind a little rule-breaking, even if he is the one who made that particular rule for the rest of the evening.  
At least this means that Billy is getting round two of kissing against his car.

He watches Steve walk away, waits about thirty seconds and then Billy gets up too. “I forgot my smokes.” He pretends not to see Max rolling her eyes and turns to leave when he hears Dustin say;  
“What is that?”

-

Feeling no small amount of irritation, Billy glares over at him. “My smokes. Cigarettes, you idiot.”

“Shut up.” Dustin orders sharply, getting up, tilting his head.

Irritation instantly switches into anger and Billy turns to face him. “What. Did you. Say?”  
Lucas and Max gets up too and Lucas tilts his head as well. “I can hear it too.”

Billy turns his gaze to where they're staring; at some random shrubbery ahead of them, and just when he's about to unleash his anger, he hears it too.  
A low, rumbling sound. A wet hitch, then more rumbling. No. Wait.  
Growling. Definitely growling.

A chill runs down Billy's spine, threatening to send him back into the nightmares he tries to forget during day-time, but he braces himself against it. He's not a pussy. He's not!  
Billy takes a step forward, squinting into the darkness and suddenly he can make out a large, shadowy shape in there. Something is watching them. Something is making that noise.

“Is is a bear?” Dustin whisper-shouts.

Billy frowns. It doesn't sound like any bear he's ever heard. It doesn't sound like any animal he's ever heard. It makes his skin crawl. He absently reaches out a hand to signal the kids to keep back, waits and listen for a few seconds more, then takes a step forward.  
The growling continues, low and menacing, but Billy still can't make out what kind of creature it is. It's too big to be a dog, but it's not big enough to be a bear. There is something... wrong about it.

Billy feels fear threatening to choke off his ability to breathe, his pulse is pounding, but he also knows there are three children there and they are looking to him to protect them. So he forces the terrified feeling down into his belly and makes himself take another step forward towards the animal. “Whatever you are, I suggest you fuck off before I make you.”  
He hears Max hissing his name, but Billy merely waves a hand at her for her to shut up and stay back.  
The growling continues. Stupid animal. It's just an animal. This is real, not a nightmare.

“Hey!” Billy snaps, and takes yet another step forward. “I said-”  
The black shape within the shrubbery suddenly shoots forward, all teeth and fury, leaping at Billy with every intention of tearing his face off.

The kids screams in horror. Billy automatically raises his hands in defense just as the creature hits him and knocks him to the ground. He gets a grip on the thick and leathery throat of the unnatural beast, that is most definitely not a dog or a bear, managing to keep it from sinking its many sharp teeth into him, but it is strong, so very strong! The creature has no fur, has a dark gray hide, a whip-like tail and a heavy head with tiny eyes, all placed on a rail-thin body with four powerful legs.

Claws are tearing at the ground, tearing at Billy's jacket too, as it tries to get closer. The growls are even louder, drool drips in thick blobs, its hot breath on Billy's skin. It smells rotten.

The kids keeps screaming, terrified, and Billy's arms tremble as the monster squirms and leans all of its heavy weight against his grip to bring its snapping maw towards his face; showing him a mouth similar to a dog's but filled with thousands of sharp teeth covering its entire inside instead of rows of canines and a tongue. Time seems to slow down and go on forever. Billy stares with helpless panic as he realizes he's going to die.

“Hey!” A voice calls out, loud and filled with anger, and the beast actually lifts its head to face the source.

Billy is too shocked, too numb, to really react with anything but a startled blink when something slams into the creature and knocks it off him with a spray of something wet that splatters over him.  
It's blood. The creature's blood and something that looks like... teeth?

Steve steps up next to Billy, swinging a bat with multiple sharp nails in it, watching the momentarily downed beast. “Get up.” A quick glance. “Billy, get up!”

Rolling over on his stomach and scrambling to get back up on his feet, Billy stumbles away just as the creature comes running back and he hears Steve's bat connecting with it once again. He turns and sees Steve stand slightly crouched, with his feet wide apart and bat swinging restlessly in his hands. The creature is back to squirming on the ground a small distance away.  
“Steve...” Billy says, needing to be told what to do. He's too scared to think.

“Go.” Steve snaps, eyes on the creature. “Take the kids. Get them to the car.” Out of the shrubbery, two more creatures appear. “Billy, go! Now!”

-

Billy hesitates because he doesn't want to leave Steve alone with one of these creatures, much less three of them, but there is nothing he can do to help. Nothing except protecting the kids.  
“Go!” Billy shouts, turning to face the teenagers, pointing towards the car. “GO!”

Max runs, but Dustin refuses to move so Billy wraps an arm around his waist and merely picks him up as he runs by him. Lucas is too slow, so he uses his other hand to grab a hold of his arm and forces him to keep up.  
“STEVE!” Dustin shrieks, fighting to get free. “Let go! Let me go! He's going to get killed! Steve!”

Billy's heart is beating so hard, so fast, that it feels like its going to explode. He ignores Dustin's screaming, focuses on getting them to the car, to safety. Away from those... things.  
Three months ago he'd been at the mercy of the Flayer, unable to escape, but not this time.

“Get in the car!” Billy shouts as Max reaches it first and is relieved to see her yank the door open and dive into the backseat. He shoves Lucas in after her and prevents Dustin from breaking free and heading back towards the danger.  
“Let me go!” Dustin keeps shrieking. “They're going to kill him!”

Billy forces the boy into the car and gets into the driver seat himself. His hands are trembling so badly that he struggles to get the key into the ignition. Now all three kids are shouting at the same time and he can barely hear the roar of the Camaro when he finally manages to turn the key and get the engine going.  
Billy doesn't hesitate; he puts it into gear and presses down hard on the accelerator. 

The Camaro roars again and spits out a long line of gravel as it struggles for a grip on the road and then takes off like the mighty machine it is.

Adrenaline and raw fear is fueling Billy as he drives. As well as guilt. He can't believe he just left Steve like that. But there wasn't anything else he could do, right? He had to get the kids out of there.  
But that doesn't mean he is going to leave Steve behind. 

Billy presses down even harder on the accelerator. He places his right hand on the handbrake and tightens his grip on the steering wheel with his left as he speeds by the campfire and heads directly towards where Steve is backed up against a tree, still holding on to his bat defensively. Two of the creatures are looming in front of him while the third one lies slumped halfway into a bush.

“Hang on!” Billy shouts to the kids, then turns the wheel hard and pulls the handbrake, sending the Camaro into an 180 degree turn that smashes the side of the back-end of the car into the creatures. The impact is loud and sends them flying while the vehicle comes to a halt facing away from Steve.

Steve is staring wide-eyed at the car, unable to believe what he just saw, so Billy leans out to yell at him. “Get in the goddamn car, Steve!”

Steve gets in the goddamn car.  
Seconds later, they are racing down the gravel path and away from the camp site.

“Are they following us?” Steve shouts in a panicky voice.  
All the kids are staring out the back-window and shouting, making it impossible to hear what they are saying. The car swerves, shudders and jumps as it speeds along the uneven road, way faster than it should. At one point, one tire is outside of the road and spits up water from the small ditch there.

“Are they following us?!” Steve screams.  
“No!” Max yells back, then calms slightly and turns to face him. “No, I don't think so...”  
“Can't see them.” Lucas confirms, turning to face him as well.  
Dustin stares for a while longer, then turns and nods.

Steve nods, then turns to focus on Billy. “Hey...” He nearly loses his balance as the car swerves again. “Billy, hey, they're not following us. You can slow down. Slow down, okay? Or we're gonna end up crashing.”  
Billy's grip on the steering wheel is so tight his knuckles are white. He hears Steve and knows he's right, but he doesn't slow down before they're off the gravel path and out of the forest. Then, and only then, does he ease up a little and also realizes he's still trembling so hard it is almost painful.

“What the hell were those things?” Lucas finally asks.  
“No idea.” Steve replies, looking at the dark blood on his bat. He glances over at Billy. “Did you recognize them?”  
Not taking his eyes off the road, holding on to his sanity by sheer force of will, Billy shakes his head. He saw many things with the Flayer inside his mind, but not those creatures.  
“We gotta tell Hopper.” Dustin says. “Those things are still out there.”

-

Driving up to the Byer's house, Billy parks in their driveway and everyone gets out of the Camaro, which now has two dents where it had hit the creatures.

Billy places a hand on top of his car and numbly watches as the kids walk up towards the house and disappears inside. He's not sure if his legs will carry him. His body just won't calm down. Won't stop shivering. Won't stop everything! He can still smell the creature's breath and feel its blood on him. He remembers Heather's terrified eyes. He remembers hearing people pleading for their lives in vain. He remembers watching them die. When Steve circles the car to ask him if he's okay; Billy spins away from him and throws up.

Oh God, he's trembling so hard, his heart is definitely going to explode, his stomach heaves again and Billy feels like he's dying. The nightmare isn't over. The creature that had possessed him is still alive. It had to be for those things to exist. And now it is going to come back and finish the job it started on with Billy.

“Hey...” Steve's voice. “I'm going to touch you, okay? It's just me.” And then there are warm and careful hands on Billy's back and shoulders, steadying him, anchoring him. “Calm down. That's it. They're gone and you're safe. I'm right here with you. You're going to be okay.”

Billy heaves a couple of times more, then wipes at his mouth with a trembling hand and lets Steve help him to straighten up and lean against the car. Steve looks worried. Even more so than usual.  
Billy feels like screaming. Why had he been stupid enough to let himself believe it was over? Why had he started to think that things could be good? Stupid. Stupid! He takes a hold of Steve's jacket, pulls him closer and rests his feverish forehead to his shoulder as he shivers.

Steve places a hand on Billy's neck. “I told you to go.”  
“I did.” Billy mutters, still feeling guilty about that. “You didn't say I couldn't come back.”  
“Idiot.” Steve says, but there is a smile there. He hesitates, then adds; “Thank you.”  
“Shut up.” Billy doesn't want to hear any gratitude from Steve. Hell, Steve had saved his life first, wouldn't even be in that kind of danger if not for Billy deciding to take on monsters unarmed.  
“Nope.” Steve replies, squeezing his neck a little. The shivering eases somewhat.

Then the door to the house opens and Hopper steps out. “Hey, you two. Get your asses in here.” He frowns a little at the sight of them, like there is something there he should understand, but then clearly decides he can't be bothered and just says; “You hear me? Now.”

Billy nods and straightens a little. He's still nauseous, still unsteady, so Steve places a hand at the small of his back and they walk up to the house together.

Inside, just about everyone is gathered in the living room. Billy shudders at all the wide eyed stares their way. He is tempted to just turn around and leave, but Steve's hand is a reassuring presence and so he forces himself to go into the room alongside of him.  
Dustin, Lucas, Max, Will, Mike and El are all squeezed together on the sofa. Hovering next to them, Nancy and Jonathan. Joyce Byers is sitting on the corner of the living room table, lighting up a cigarette with trembling hands. Hopper is now hovering in the doorway and he's not looking happy.

Billy walks over to Joyce and points to her cigarette pack. “Can I...?”  
She hands him the pack and he lights one up, hoping it will soothe his screaming mind.

“The kids say you guys were attacked up at the camp site. By monsters. Lots of teeth. No fur.” Hopper says, dead serious. “I'm guessing this isn't some kind of early Halloween prank?”  
Billy shakes his head, inhaling deeply from the cigarette before exhaling. “No, sir.”  
Hopper curses softly and looks away.

Joyce glances over at the pale faced Will before turning her attention to Hopper. “But we killed it. The gate is closed and we killed... that thing.” She switches her attention to El and back to her son. “Did you feel anything?”  
El shakes her head. Will does the same.

Hopper moves forward, snatches the cigarette from Billy's fingers and takes a deep drag from it. “Stay here. I'll go up there and have a look around. Maybe it wasn't those things. Maybe it's something else. Something that doesn't include that place.”

Almost everyone starts shouting, El jumps up from the sofa, Joyce is already reaching out to physically grab a hold of him, but Hopper freezes them all by taking a step forward and pointing at them in turn with the cigarette. “ **Stay.** ” He orders.

Billy feels the familiar unease he always gets when Hopper is angry, but it doesn't scare him like it used to. He doubts Hopper would ever lay a hand on him in anger. “Steve knocked one of them out cold. With his bat. There is at least three of them.” He swallows hard. “Be careful.”

Hopper nods, takes another drag from the cigarette and exhales. “I will.” He heads towards the door, picking up his gun-holster and his gun on the way. “I'll be back soon.”

-

Waiting is the worst part. Billy wants to ask Joyce for another cigarette, but she looks so wound up that he's nervous about approaching her. The kids are talking amongst themselves. Dustin is really painting the tale of Steve's “bat-swinging awesomeness” and Billy's “bad-ass driving”. Steve himself is talking to Nancy and Billy knows that any other day he'd be jealous as hell, but now he's too stressed out to really think much about it. 

“Listen,” Steve's voice is suddenly next to him, “we can wait in Jonathan's room. I asked. You look like shit. It's more quiet in there. Come on.”

Billy is too numb to object, merely lets Steve guide him and he's not sorry when they enter the small bedroom and the door closes, shutting out a lot of the voices from the living room. He walks over to sit down on the bed. Steve sits down next to him.  
For a while, they sit in silence, then Billy hangs his head low, exhausted, and Steve places his hand on his arm. “What if they were after me?” Billy says. “What if that thing is back and it sent them to either kill me or drag me back to it?”

“We don't know that.” Steve replies, but he tenses up a little. “We don't know anything.”

“If they were after me, they're going to come back,” Billy continues, “and I'll be putting everyone in danger. I'm going to get more people killed.” He can't go through that again. He can't.  
“Let's just wait for Hopper to get back and hear what he found.” Steve says. “Maybe it's like what he said; maybe it's not even connected to the Flayer and that other place.”  
“Do you really believe that?”  
Steve sighs. “No.” He squeezes his arm a little. “But let us just wait and see what he finds.”

And so they wait.

And waiting really is the worst part.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mystery continues and something is moving around in the dark...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say thank you for every single kudos and also that I am in eternal gratitude to you kind readers who took the time to leave me encouraging words, thank you, and this chapter only exists because of you! <3

Seconds feels like minutes and the minutes like hours. Steve is hovering by the window, staring out at the road as if that will make Hopper return faster. Billy is leaning back against the pillows on the bed, eyes closed and trying to convince himself it had all been yet another nightmare.

When there is a knock on the door, they both start and stare briefly at each other before looking over when the door opens.  
Billy relaxes when he sees the familiar red hair.

Max steps into the room, carefully, as if she's afraid that a sudden noise will cause some kind of calamity. “Hey...” She is holding two cups of something, one in each hand. She hesitates once she's inside the door and tries to scan Billy somewhat discretely. “You okay?”  
Billy tries to smile and fails. “I should be asking you that.”  
Max shrugs. Then she seems to remember the cups she's holding and moves over to hand Billy one and then Steve. “Mrs. Byers made some hot chocolate. I thought maybe you guys would want some?”

Steve gratefully accepts the cup and inhales the scent of chocolate. “Ah. The smell of memories.”  
Max frowns confused at him.  
A devious smile emerges on Steve. “Your brother and I had hot chocolate on our first date.”

Billy chokes a little on his tentative sip. 

Max' frown deepens and she shakes her head a little at Steve. “You know, I was hoping you'd be a good influence on him. I didn't think he'd been able to turn you into an idiot like he is.” She sounds far too condescending for her age. Steve can't help but to laugh.

Billy smiles a little too, but he lowers the cup and says; “Max...”

“What?” She asks, clearly suspicious, and turns to face him.

Billy makes himself meet her gaze. “I, uhm, I'm sorry I yelled at you. Back there. It's just that Susan asked me to keep an eye on you and...” He makes a face. “Can't you wait with stuff like that until you're about 35?”

Max rolls her eyes at that, but she doesn't seem angry. “You're **such** an idiot.” She walks over to the door, but pauses there and looks back at Billy. “You're my brother, Billy, not my dad. We're meant to fight. That's what siblings do. It doesn't mean that we're not, like, friends after. Just turn down the asshole-level. Okay?”

Billy nods with a faint smile. “I'll try.”  
“Good.” Max says. “Because me and Lucas are going to the movies tomorrow. In the dark. Alone.” She slips out and shuts the door just as Billy sits up straight and snaps; “Like hell you are!”

Steve laughs quietly, shaking his head. “She's awesome.”  
Billy is everything but pleased. “Yeah, keep laughing, Harrington, but you're the one who has to come with me tomorrow to watch some shitty kid's movie.”  
Steve merely laughs louder.  
But then there is the sound of an approaching car and the dread returns in an instant. Steve darts back to the window while Billy jumps up from the bed.

“Is it him?” Billy asks, feeling that tense knot reforming in his chest.

Steve watches for a few seconds longer as the car approaches the house, and when it is close enough to be identified despite the darkness, he confirms; “It's him.”

Putting down their cups, they make their way back into the living room where the rest are looking as tense and anxious as they feel. Moments later, the door opens and Jim Hopper steps inside.  
He does not look happy either.

“Well?” Joyce says when he doesn't start talking the very second he enters the house.  
Hopper shakes his head. “Nothing.”

Billy feels like he just got punched in the stomach.

“What?!” Dustin exclaims. “What do you mean nothing? There were three of them! One tried to **eat** Billy! A-and Steve knocked the stuffing out of one of them.”

“Whatever happened,” Hopper says, “they're not there now. And there were no trace left by these animals. No sign of the fight.” He moves towards the table. “Hell, there wasn't even a single tire track.”

Billy shakes his head, steps forward. “That's not possible. When I hit those... things, that turn must have left marks. I know it did.” He remembers the sound and the feeling of the Camaro sliding on the gravel.

“Yeah, well,” Hopper says, “I believe you.” He sticks his hand into his pocket and pulls something out. Something that he places on the table.  
“What is that?” Mike asks, leaning forward to look at the three small objects lying there.

Billy stares and knows too well what it is. “Teeth.” He whispers.  
He remembers seeing them scattered across his jacket after Steve hit the creature with his bat.

Nancy, Mike and Will pick up one tooth each to study it.

Hopper looks over at Billy and Steve. “I found them buried in the gravel, more or less by accident.”  
It's becoming hard to breathe and suddenly Billy wants to go back to Jonathan's room and pretend he never heard any of this and what it means. He feels nauseous again.

“So someone covered up the tracks...” Mike mumbles, still turning the tooth between his fingers. “Why? I mean, the Flayer and the demogorgons never did that.”  
Hopper shakes his head. “I don't know, kid.” He glances around the room. “But from now on, I don't want any of you wandering around alone. These things are still out there and until I've found and killed them, you don't go anywhere alone.” He sets his gaze on El. “And that includes you too. Understood?”

“I can help.” El declares with a solemn look on her young face.  
“You can help by not giving me ulcers.” Hopper fires back.  
“I can find them.” She insists.  
“You said you couldn't sense them.” Hopper says. “Right?”  
El frowns. “I can still help you find them. I can try.”  
“You can't sense them. Will didn't sense them.” Hopper turns his gaze to Billy. “Did you sense them?”

Billy shakes his head. He doesn't trust his voice right now. Also, he suspects that if he tries to talk; he'll throw up again. His mind keeps spinning on the fact that the horror is not over.  
“Okay then,” Hopper continues, turning back to El, “so let me do my job.” He lifts a hand to prevent her from objecting again. “I promise; if I need your superpowers, I will let you know.” He switches his focus back on them all again. “So, no one goes anywhere alone. Got that? And stay out of the woods.”

“So we do nothing?” Dustin asks, voice heavy with disbelief.  
“No.” Hopper growls. “Tomorrow I will start a proper investigation, do some police work, but there's not much we can do tonight.”

Steve sighs, draws a hand through his hair and sticks his chin out towards the sofa. “Come on. Henderson, Sinclair, we'll drive you home. Max, we should get your brother home too.”

Everyone looks over at Billy and he takes a step back, uncomfortable with all the attention. He can feel he's a sweaty mess again, probably looks as bad as he feels, and it is confirmed when he sees Joyce get up and she gives him the tormented face she gets when she wants to mother him and has to restrain herself. She's dangerously close to hugging him and usually that would be okay, but not now. Now he feels toxic and disgusting, like something that shouldn't be touched.

Max gets up from the sofa. “Yeah.” She nudges at Lucas. “Let's go.”

“Billy.” Steve says, gently, gaining his attention, before slowly reaching out and touching his shoulder.

Billy flinches.

“It's okay.” Steve reassures.

Billy doesn't believe him. 

“I'll keep you safe.” El says, standing up as well, looking directly at Billy. “I won't let it get to you again. I promise.”

Billy shivers. He doesn't believe her either. She means well, but she can't always be there. Still, he forces himself to give her a tiny nod, then makes his way towards the door. As he passes by Hopper, the Chief says; “You don't have to come to the station tomorrow if you don't feel like it.”  
Billy glances up at him, knowing it too is kindly meant, but it fills him with more dread. “No. No, I'll be there.”

Hopper keeps his gaze for a moment, then he nods.

Outside, the cool air feels good on Billy's feverish skin, but it is quickly ruined by the fact that he knows those things are out there, lurking in the darkness, and he hurries over to the Camaro. Opening the door on the driver's side, he pauses and sends the two dents in the back a look, wondering when he'll find the time and energy to fix the damage.. He'd only gotten her fixed up again and he hadn't even done much of that work.

Suddenly the dents pop out and straighten, making Billy jump, then he looks back at the house and sees Hopper and El standing there.  
He weakly lifts his hand from where it is resting on top of the car door in a gesture of gratitude.

The girl nods, still with solemn eyes but also with a trying smile.

-

They drop off Lucas first, then Dustin, who leans back in to talk to Steve.  
“We can't just do nothing, Steve. Those things are still out there.”  
Steve meets his gaze with a calm confidence that would have fooled Billy if he couldn't see the tension in his neck and shoulders. “We're not going to do nothing, Dustin. Okay? Let the Chief do some digging tomorrow and we'll take it from there.” Steve then give him a playful shove. “Now, go. Scram. Get inside.”

Billy waits until the door to the house closes behind the boy before he puts the Camaro into gear and they drive off.

A silence fills the car once it's just the three of them left and the engine sounds even louder than usual. Billy stares at the road, Steve appears lost in thought and Max is looking out at the darkness with a frown on her face.  
When they approach the crossroads where one will bring them to the Harrington house and the other towards Billy and Max' house, Steve breaks the silence with a quiet question.  
“Do you want me to stay?” All too aware how much of a mess Billy is now.

Billy doesn't answer. He merely turns the car towards the Hargrove house.

Susan greets them with her usual nervous smile once they arrive home and only reacts to the news of Steve staying with a surprised blink before she's distracted by Max warning her about three feral dogs she's heard talk about. No one has told Susan the truth about what happened to Billy three months ago and Max clearly wants to keep it that way.

Steve glances over at Billy and gestures towards the phone. “I just gotta call my parents.”

Billy nods, but doesn't stay to listen. He heads towards his room and paces for a while before he ends up staring at his reflection in the mirror, for once not out of vanity.  
He doesn't look much different from this morning, which makes it tempting to believe that he's still himself, unchanged, untainted, but Billy knows how well the Flayer hid within him. His eyes are slightly glassy, he's sweating despite the cool weather, and wasn't that how it started the last time?  
And even if he, against all odds, is not infected, or possessed, or whatever, were those creatures at the campsite there to re-infect him? To turn him back into a monster? Maybe he never stopped being one?

Billy shivers, fighting against the growing urge to smash the mirror and the need to scream until he tastes blood, that's when the door to his room opens and Steve enters. He sees him staring at himself and he gets that worried look of his. Billy doesn't move.

Steve walks over to his side, reaching out to touch him, but Billy grabs his wrist before he's able to.  
“If I start acting weird or get out of control,” Billy says, “I want you to stop me.”

Now Steve frowns and he tugs a little to free his hand but fails. “What are you talking about?”

Billy tightens his grip, hard, stares intently at him and tries to will him into understanding just how serious he is. “I mean it, Steve. If that thing starts controlling me again, I don't want you to waste time trying to find some way to save me.” He tugs him a little closer. Harshly. “Stop me. Okay? Permanently. Put a bullet in my head, have El snap my neck, but stop me. I'm **not** going to be responsible for more death. Not again. I can't!”

Steve's eyes hardens and he pulls free, giving Billy a tiny taste of the strength he usually keeps so tightly controlled. “We are not having this conversation.”

“Yes, we are.” Billy insists, following him when Steve stalks away over to the window. “Those things were after me...”  
“We don't know that!” Steve interrupts him with an angry outburst.  
“And if they turn me back into that... thing,” Billy continues undeterred, halting behind Steve, “I won't be able to stop it. Stop myself.” He remembers too well. Heather's eyes. People pleading for their lives. Screaming for help. “I tried, Steve. God, I really tried, back then. I tried so fucking hard, but I couldn't stop it. It's too strong!” He hates how his eyes fill up with tears as he recalls the despair and how he pleaded, trapped inside his own body, for someone to help him. 

_-Crying again? Pathetic._ His father's voice snarls inside his head.

Steve turns to face him and the anger on his face softens a little at the sight. “Billy...” He reaches out and takes a hold of Billy's jacket and tugs him closer, allows Billy to hide his face to his neck, hide the tears that he still finds shameful.  
“Promise me.” Billy whispers.

Steve doesn't answer, merely places a hand on Billy's neck and stares at their reflection.

-

It comes as no surprise to either of them that sleep is hard to find that night. Billy can't quite decide what he fears the most; the nightmares or the idea that he'll fall asleep and the creature will take over control.  
For hours, they both lie staring into the darkness, curled up together on his narrow bed, yet taking comfort in each others presence. And that comfort is especially appreciated when the nightmares do arrive and Steve can ease him out of it after months of experience.

In the morning, they're both exhausted and barely talk over breakfast. Billy feels guilty about the dark under Steve's eyes and swears to be better, stronger, not a pussy, and deal with his own problems without dragging Steve down with him. His father was wrong; Billy is not a weakling!  
He drives Steve to the video store, pretends not to see Robins' curious look his way, and after that he heads to the police station.

Hopper is 45 minutes late for his shift. Which means he's actually early compared to some days.  
Billy sends him a questioning look, but Hopper merely shakes his head at him. No news yet.

It's hard to concentrate, Billy finds. He keeps spacing out, has to ask people to repeat stuff, but when Hopper offers once again to give him the day off; Billy just about begs to be allowed to stay.  
Working is a hell of a lot better than sitting at home, worrying. At work he can keep an eye on reports about strange incidents and be prepared if something happens.

Nothing happens. Nothing unnatural, at least.  
It's like the creatures has vanished and it does absolutely nothing to calm Billy. He knows they are out there. Somewhere. He just doesn't know what they're waiting for.

At the end of the day, he pauses in the doorway to Hopper's office. “Anything?” Billy asks.

Hopper leans back in his chair, clearly displeased but not with Billy. “Nothing concrete.” He considers something then leans forward again and taps his finger on some papers on his desk. “I have a couple of ideas, though. Nothing to get excited about yet, but I'm going to talk to some people I know.”  
Billy nods, knowing better than to pry, but still feeling tense and uncomfortable.  
“Go home, kid.” Hopper says, not unkindly. “I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Billy turns to leave, but then hesitates and glances back at the man. “Thanks.” Not only for searching for the creatures, but for giving him trust and a second chance. He wouldn't be wearing this uniform if not for him.

Despite his temper and his posturing, there is also a gentle side to Jim Hopper and it shows when he gives a faint smile in return. “It's gonna be okay.” He doesn't mean just the creatures either.

Billy finds that he wants to believe him. He leaves the station that day with a tiny core of hope.

“I actually thought you were joking!” Steve exclaims, somewhere between amused and resigned as they walk into the movie theater, trailing behind Max and Lucas.  
“She's my sister. I have to.” Billy growls, knowing all too well how little he wants to be there himself. He's still exhausted from the lack of sleep and hates dark, crowded and loud places. “But she's doing this on purpose.”

Max knows these are the kind of situations that forces Billy out of his self-imposed exile to keep an eye on her. He knows she does it to help him adjust to normal life. He also knows he would so very much appreciate it if she **stopped doing this**!

The movie sucks, as expected, his head aches from lack of sleep and stress, and yet he finds himself slouching slightly towards Steve and almost relaxing as the minutes pass.  
Billy also decides to amuse himself and get his revenge by throwing popcorn at Max whenever she and Lucas gets a little too close for his taste at random intervals, responding to her killer glares with his moviestar smile and ignores Steve's disapproving glare. It makes the trip there almost worth it.

Once they've driven Lucas home, Max yells at her brother the entire way home and he does no small amount of yelling back, but once he's parked the car and Max has stormed inside the house, Billy is actually feeling pretty good and Steve shakes his head at him.  
“I can't believe I was actually worried about you, Hargrove.” There is fond resignation in his voice.

Billy leans over, places his hand behind Steve's neck and eases him into a slow and tantalizing kiss, all soft lips and teasing tongue. It lures a moan from Steve and Billy whispers; “Stay?”

Steve stays that night too and while they don't sleep much this time either; it's for completely different reasons.

-

Billy is not sure what wakes him up that night. It's not one of his usual nightmares, because he doesn't wake screaming and flailing, but he suddenly realizes that he's awake and terrified. His heart is racing, terror is choking him and cold sweat is covering his skin.

Steve is still asleep next to him, safe between Billy's back and the wall next to the bed, breathing deep and calm, peaceful.  
But _something_ is making Billy feel like he can't breathe. He's so scared, and he has no idea why.

Until a sound catches his attention.

The room is dark, so very dark, but there is a sound of something moving nearby.  
Billy trembles as he tries to lie very, very still and not attract attention. He's not sure he'd be able to move even if he wanted to. His every instinct is howling danger.  
He can't see what it is, can only hear careful movements, but as the seconds pass; he becomes aware of an unpleasant smell and it gets stronger as the sounds appears to come increasingly closer.

It smells like something rotten.

Whatever is moving around is making soft snuffling sounds. 

-It's searching for something, Billy thinks with a strange detachment. -It's hunting.  
Seconds later, he feels a hot breath on his face, ripe with the stench of decaying flesh.

Billy flinches, fighting against the natural instinct to flee. His eyes can't make out much more than a shape in the dark, something with a dark, leathery hide and powerful muscles, but there is no doubt in his mind that it is one of those creatures from the campsite. He remembers that smell.

A part of Billy wants to scream and put up a fight, but a larger part knows that it didn't help in the past and won't help him now. And he doesn't want to wake Steve and risk him getting hurt or worse.  
Billy trembles hard, clenches his jaw against the need to scream, and feels helpless tears escaping as he closes his eyes and waits for it to realize it has found its prey.

The creature snuffles again, makes a low growling sound, and the smell gets even worse. Its breath caresses Billy's face, plays with his hair and slides across his sweaty skin.

Steve sighs, sounding annoyed, probably unsettled by the smell and shifts a little against Billy.  
Billy's heart jumps and the creature tenses up with a low, threatening rumble and for the longest time; nothing happens. Steve sleeps, Billy shivers and the creature hovers.

Then, finally, it goes quiet, turns its attention back to Billy and he feels it touching the side of his neck, as if drawn to his pulse. It breathes on his skin. He shivers hard, can't help it, can't stop it, and more tears make a break for it.  
He's so fucking scared.

Billy has no idea how long he remains like that, eyes closed and shivering, but after a small eternity he realizes that he hasn't felt the creature's breath in a while and he can't hear it anymore.

Opening his eyes, he stares into the darkness, seeing nothing, and he listens. 

Nothing.

He waits and waits. Still nothing. Billy waits some more.

Eventually, after an agonizingly long time, he slowly, carefully, reaches out, hesitates, then turns on the light next to the bed.

The room is instantly lit up by the lamp and to Billy's shock and relief; there's nothing there.  
Sitting up, he glances around, afraid to believe his own eyes, and Billy exhales a broken sound of relief.

“S'wrong?” Steve asks from where he's got his face shoved into the pillow.  
“It was here.” Billy whispers, his voice sounds dangerously frail, much like his brain feels. “Just now, it was right here.”  
Steve sits up, confused, his hair even wilder than usual. “What? It? What are you talking about?”

Billy looks over at him, not caring that that he'll see the tears on his face. “Those things at the campsite. The monsters. They were here.”

-

Steve sits on the bed, legs folded under him and the sheet wrapped around his waist, as he watches Billy gets dressed. “I'm not saying I don't believe you...”  
“That's exactly what it sounds like you're saying.” Billy states angrily, jumping a little as he pulls up his pants and starts buttoning them. “But I'm telling you; it was right here!”  
Clearing his throat, nodding, Steve tries to sound diplomatic. “I'm just saying that... Your dreams can often leave you a little confused. I mean, they can seem pretty damn real at times. Are you sure...”  
“I'm sure!” Billy shouts, then pulls on a large sweater as well. “It was here!”  
Resigned, Steve gets out of bed and reaches for his clothes as well.

Billy is still trembling and he can't seem to calm down. He knows the creature was there, but after he'd found the room empty and woken Steve up, looking around; he'd been forced to face the fact that there had been no trace of it. Nothing. Not even how it had gotten inside the room.  
Susan and Max were still asleep. All doors and windows were closed.

“Billy, it's in the middle of the night. Where are you going?” Steve asks as Billy stalks out of the room and he follows.

Honestly? Billy has no idea. But he has to get away from that room. It isn't safe.  
“Billy!” Steve hisses, grabbing a hold of his upper arm as he is halfway through the living room. “Stop. Okay? Talk to me. I'm on your side, remember?”  
Billy stops and he stares back at him. “It was here.”

Steve nods, turning his hold on him to a reassuring pat instead. “If you say it was here, it was here.” He leans a little close and holds his gaze, his dark eyes open and honest. “I believe you.”

Billy nods in return, tense and scared, but also starting to doubt his own mind. Everything inside him says that the creature really was there, he couldn't have imagined the sound and the smell, not like that, but the logical part of his brain points out the fact that there was no trace, none whatsoever, and if it really was there; wouldn't it have woken Steve up too?  
Billy frowns, torn between logic and instinct, scared and confused. “I didn't dream it. Did I...?”

“If you say it was here, it was here.” Steve states, reaching up to touch his face. “But you're safe now.”  
Dream or reality, Billy realizes that he doubts that anyone in Hawkins is safe.

A loud knock on the front door makes them both jump and stare at it with wide, frightened eyes. For several seconds, neither of them move, but then someone knocks again and they exchange worried looks before Billy inches towards the door and Steve picks up a nearby lamp as a weapon.  
Billy in hales deeply, braces himself, then opens the door.

El looks up at him as the door opens and she asks; “Where is he?”

Momentarily too surprised to act or say anything, they stare at the young girl, pale and alone in the dark night, then Steve slowly lowers the lamp and Billy shakes his head.  
“Where is who? Why are you here? You shouldn't be out alone. What's happened?”

“He didn't come home after work.” El says, looking at Billy like he has the answers and he's keeping them from her. “Where is he?”

Utterly confused, Billy tries to put the pieces together. “What are you talking ab...” And then he realizes. “Hopper? The Chief didn't come home?” Even more fear takes up residence in his stomach. “I don't... He was at the station when I left. He said he was going to talk to some people about what happened at the campsite.”  
El doesn't look reassured. “And then?”  
“And then nothing.” Billy is, if possible, even more confused. “I left. He stayed. I haven't seen him since.”

Steve steps up next to him, placing a calming hand on Billy's shoulder. “Why do you think Billy would know where he is? Why are you here?”

El takes a step to the side and gestures at something.

Billy and Steve takes a step out on the doorstep and what they see leaves them speechless.

Empty and parked behind Billy's Camaro; Chief Hopper's car.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go from bad to worse for Billy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you guys for the kudos and my soul will arrive in the mail to the ones who left a comment! <3  
> And heads about some violence in this chapter.

**STILL MISSING.**  
The front page of the newspaper has a picture of Hopper under its screaming headline and the missing poster on a nearby pole has the same photo with a phone number for people to call if they have any information. For the last three days, the Chief of Police's sudden and unexplained disappearance has been the main concern of Hawkins.

The night that El had knocked on the door and shown them Hopper's empty car, they had found as much trace of him as of Billy's monster; nothing. They hadn't even heard Hopper driving up the driveway that night, which unsettled Billy to no end. He's become so wary of all sounds, how could did he have not heard that car?  
When morning broke, Billy had gone to the station and told them the Chief was missing. After that, Powell organized searches, the police had spent days and night looking, and had come up with the exact same thing: nothing.

And while everyone is desperately trying to locate Hopper, no one is looking harder than El.  
Because of her abilities, they know Jim Hopper is still alive. When they failed to find any trace of Hopper, she had gone inside the house, blindfolded herself and reached out to him in the Void.  
They had all been sick with relief when she discovered that he was alive, but even the powerful Eleven had been unable to pinpoint his location. She has been trying multiple times since, several times a day, but she only emerges with the same result every time; she sees that Hopper alive, kept unconscious, unresponsive, in some unknown underground location that blocks her from finding it.

Billy isn't the only one who flinches on the second day when she screams with helpless rage as she yet again fails to find the location, blood seeping from her nostrils, and every single window in the Byers house explodes. Even when Mike wraps her up in his arms, El doesn't stop crying.

That morning El had silently revealed that Hopper was growing weak, kept asleep and given barely any water and no food by his captors.

Walking by Hopper's empty office now brings a sickening stab of guilt to Billy. He knows it was Hopper investigating the creatures that caused him to disappear and he's now more certain than ever that they were there for Billy. This is all because of Billy.

Stepping outside the station for some air, Billy discovers that they've towed Hopper's car to his usual parking spot there and he numbly walks over to it. He opens the door and climbs inside, settles in the driver's seat and shuts the door again.

The car smells of cigarettes and of the cologne Hopper always uses. The cheap stuff, not the expensive shit Neil Hargrove would insist on and his son would also use. Billy had hassled Hopper mercilessly over that cologne and now he realizes just how much he's missed it. And while Billy is neither short or frail, his fanatical work-outs has resulted in muscles and a solid frame, he can feel where Hopper has shaped the seat and suddenly Billy feels small.  
He feels like a little boy again, sitting in a grown man's seat, afraid and vulnerable, helpless. So when he feels tears are about to emerge, Billy embraces another familiar feeling instead; anger.

Snarling, Billy swipes hard at the steering wheel.

Why had Hopper insisted on protecting Billy? Helping him, getting him a job, forcing him to get his act together, shown him what kind of man he could be instead of what Billy's father tried to make him into? If Hopper had just minded his own damn business, he wouldn't be trapped somewhere, slowly dying, alone in the darkness! 

Billy screams and hits the steering wheel, again and again and again, close to drowning with guilt and frustration, until he wears himself out and merely folds his arms over the steering wheel and rests his forehead there.

Breathing hard, refusing to cry, Billy wonders yet again why he had to survive the Flayer. Everything would have been better if he'd just died...

A knock on the car window makes Billy jump.  
He straightens and twists around to see who it is, and is only mildly reassured to see it is Steve.  
For the last three days, Billy has more or less avoided him like the plague. Not returning his calls, not going to his house, telling him not to come to his.

Opening the door, Billy gets out of the car and glances over at him. “What are you doing here?”

Steve huffs and throws his arms out. “Well, it was either this or start driving by your bedroom window like a creepy stalker again. But as Susan told me you're not really sleeping anymore, I thought this would be easier.”

Billy had given Susan a bit of a scare yesterday when he'd passed out for a moment, waking on the living room floor with her anxiously hovering over him and about to call an ambulance, but the thought of sleep was simply unbearable now. Monsters crawling around his room in the darkness, nightmares waiting to sink their teeth into him, it was just too much.  
And now Steve is looking at him with that worried face of his.  
“Sorry.” Billy says. “I've just been busy. Helping organizing the searches and stuff.”

“Bullshit.” Steve snaps but there is uncertainty his eyes. “You've been avoiding me. Why?”

Why? Billy almost laughs.  
-Because I don't want to drag you down with me, he thinks. -Because I don't want to risk you getting hurt or, worse, killed.  
“I haven't...” He begins instead, lamely, searching for an excuse. Billy can't even really look at him.

“Did I say something, do something, wrong?” Steve asks, trying to sound calm but there is a slight tremor in his voice that reveals how anxious he is behind the calm facade.

“What? No!” Billy meets his gaze. “No, that's not...”  
Steve forces a smile and shrugs, overly cheerful and fake. “So, it's just me, then? You don't want to be around me?”  
“No! No, no, no...” Billy reaches out and takes a hold of Steve's jacket with both of his hands, holding him there, barely resisting the urge to pull him closer to comfort them both. 

“Am I losing you?” Steve asks, suddenly his voice is close to a whisper and now he's the one struggling to meet Billy's gaze. “Because Nancy started to avoid me too. I thought things were fine, I thought she loved me, I loved her, and we did good, for a while, but then she started to avoid me and she wouldn't tell me why and... and...” He draws a shivering breath and closes his eyes. “Just tell me.”

Billy frees one hand and reaches up to cup the side of Steve's face, making him look at him again. “You? You are perfect. Okay? You and your stupid hair.” That gets him a little smile. “But me? Steve, I should have died back then. Everything would have been better if I'd died.”

Steve's eyes flashes with pain and anger. “Screw you.” He slaps Billy's hand away. “You don't get to decide that. Better? For who? You? Because it sure as hell wouldn't be better for me. Or for Max. And Hopper would kick your ass for talking like that!”

He would, Billy knows. “But he can't. Because he's not here, is he?”  
“We'll get him back.” Steve insists, the anger easing a little. “We. You're not alone anymore, Billy.”

Billy shivers, frowns against the turmoil inside of him and hesitates before he gives a nod.

Steve nods as well, then shifts his weight uneasily. “Then, we're cool? You and me?”

Billy can't help but to smile. He's still clueless as to why Steve Harrington bothers, yet it makes his heart ache with something he is scared of putting into words. “Of course we are. King Steve.”  
Steve smiles as well. “Douche.”  
Reaching out again, Billy cups Steve's face once more and holds his gaze. 

Suddenly Callahan's annoying voice calls out from where the lanky policeman appears in the station doorway; “Hargrove! Where are y... Oh. There you are. Hey, Powell wants you to sort some paperwork.”

Steve moves to back away, but Billy doesn't let him, slides his hand behind Steve's neck and holds him there. Usually Billy is strict on the hands-off rule in public, but not today. He strokes his thumb across Steve's skin. “I'll see you later tonight. I'll come over, okay? I promise.”  
It stuns Steve to such a degree that Billy gets to give his neck a light squeeze, then pull away and walk inside the station before Steve has recovered enough to actually react.

“Sooo,” Callahan says as the door closes, “you and Harrington, huh? Run out of ladies in Hawkins?”  
“Callahan,” Billy warns, “I will punch you in the throat.”

-

It's close to six pm when Powell orders Billy to go home, assuring him that the search for the Chief will not come to a grinding halt merely because Billy Hargrove isn't there every damn second, and truth be told; Billy is too exhausted to argue.  
He's running on an absolute minimum of sleep and he hasn't really eaten much that day either, so he relents and more or less crawls into his Camaro and drives home.

Luckily a quick shower and a change of clothes revives Billy somewhat, at least enough so he thinks he'll be able to drive over to Steve's house without crashing, and he waves off Susan's concern as he passes by her in the kitchen door.  
“I'll grab something to eat later. I'm fine, Susan.”

She does not look convinced. “Billy, maybe you shouldn't...”

Billy turns to face her and walks backwards to the front door. “Worrying will get you wrinkles, Susan. Relax. Tell Max to do her damn homework. She and those kids should leave the searching to us adults.” He pretends not to see her lift a dry eyebrow at him considering himself in that exclusive club. “I'll be back in a couple of hours. Or I'll call.”  
Billy turns back around, opens the door and nearly walks into someone standing on their doorstep.

The person has their back towards the door, so Billy is forced to an abrupt halt and they get to turn around to face him before he realizes who it is.

“Billy.” Neil Hargrove holds up a newspaper, one with Hopper's picture and the headline; **Hawkins Chief of Police Missing**. “I read the sad news. I thought I should come back home and see how you're all holding up.”  
Stunned, Billy can feel the color draining from his face and he stares at his father with utter disbelief. “Dad...”

Neil nods. “Hello, son.” Then he notices movement behind Billy and shoulders his way by him and heads inside the house. “Susan. I've missed you, sweetheart.”

At first Billy can't move, he just stares at the ground, trying to remember how to breathe, but then he glances back and sees his father leaning over to place a kiss on Susan's deathly pale cheek. She looks as horrified as Billy feels. Their eyes meet in shared fear.  
They both know Neil Hargrove is not happy about what had happened three months ago, his gray stare is filled with hard and quiet rage, and he most definitely is not back because of some concern for Jim Hopper. There is going to be hell to pay.

“You're letting all the heat out, Billy.” Neil says, but keeps his gaze on Susan, who in turn cowers and stares at the floor with tears in her eyes.“Get your ass inside and close the door.”  
Billy automatically does as he's told. “Yes, sir.”  
“Come over here.”

Billy walks closer, almost as if he's sleepwalking, his heart is racing like crazy and he's scared, but years and years of experience tells him there is no point in trying to run or protest. He would only make things worse and at best; merely postpone the punishment. He's never been able to escape his father's anger. It's easier to just take the pain and hope it will be enough to satisfy him.

“Did you honestly think you'd get away with what you did?” Neil asks, his voice tight with barely restrained violence. “Did you think you could disrespect me like that, bring Hopper into **our** family business, and not be expected to pay for it? I honestly don't know how many times I can tell you, Billy; respect. And it is my responsibility to teach you respect.”  
“I'm sorry, Dad...” Billy begins, but his voice trembles and he sees the contempt in his father's face.  
“There you go again.” Neil states with disappointment. “Whining. Just like a little girl!”

Billy is not prepared for his father's fist slamming into his stomach and he buckles over with a pained gasp as the air is punched out of him, but he's quickly yanked upright again by a grip on his hair.  
“Neil, stop...” Susan pleads weakly as she nervously wrings her hands. “Please. Don't.”  
“Quiet.” Neil barks, eyes on his son and Billy tries to stand straight and meet his gaze, knowing any sign of weakness or fighting back will only spur him on. “I'm teaching him a lesson, Susan. I've been trying to make a man out of him since he was born, but it seems like Billy still has a lot to learn. Isn't that right?”

Billy swallows hard, his belly aches and the grip on his hair hurts. “Yes, sir.” 

The second punch to his stomach feels even worse and Billy's knees buckle just as his father releases his grip on his hair and lets him collapse. Coughing and gasping for air, Billy is kneeling in front of his father and forces himself to look up at him. -Don't show weakness, he tells himself.

“Neil, stop.” Susan's voice sounds miserable and weak.  
Neil responds with a harsh backhand across Billy's face.

Pain explodes in Billy's nose as he's flung to the floor and he automatically brings both hands up to his face. Warm blood is covering his skin within seconds, not for the first time by his father's hand.  
“Neil...” Susan pleads yet again, then yelps as Neil shoves her away before stepping over to deliver a hard kick to Billy's stomach.  
Curling up with pain, unable to breathe, Billy zones out for a moment. A part of his brain decides that it had had enough of this and reaches towards happier memories.

Steve. Steve by the hospital bed. Steve bringing him home, soaking wet from the rain and freezing. Steve holding him close as Billy's nightmares leaves him screaming. Steve smiling at him like Billy is something, someone, worth keeping.

“Neil, stop! Please!” Susan's voice sobs.  
Coughing, choking a little on his blood, Billy is forced back to the reality and the pain that follows. He sees his father's feet coming closer and braces himself for more hurt.

Suddenly there is the sound of something shattering and to Billy's puzzlement; shards of porcelain is raining down around his father's feet. 

Billy lifts his gaze and numbly watches as his father sways on his feet, clutching his head, bleeding from where a now stunned Susan had hit him over the head with a dinner plate. 

Neil slowly lowers a hand and stares at the blood there with complete disbelief before raw fury takes its place and he turns his fury towards the woman desperately backing away from him.  
“You... bitch!” Neil snarls, stalking after her, into the kitchen. “I'm going to have to teach you a lesson too!” He pulls a hand back to deliver a backhand, but it is suddenly caught in what feels like a vise.  
Surprised, Neil glances back and finds himself staring at his son who has a firm grip on his wrist.

Billy feels the blood still running from his nose, his stomach and ribs hurt like hell, fear is tight in his throat, but he meets his father's furious glare. “Don't you dare hit her.” He couldn't stop his father as a child, but he is older now, bigger, and Susan is not as strong as his mother had been.

At first Neil seems too shocked to act, hardly able to believe what he's seeing and hearing, but then he recovers and the ugly anger is back. “Go to your room, Billy. I'll deal with you later.”  
Billy doesn't move. “No.”

Neil moves fast, he's always been so damn fast, and his left hand turns into a fist that slams into Billy's face and he is sent stumbling back. But when Neil follows to add more punches, Billy finally acts and blocks them before delivering a hard punch of his own.  
His father has always been this looming figure, indestructible and invincible, in Billy's eyes as he grew up, but now he's starting to realize that isn't true. Neil is strong and fast, true, he hands out harder punches than any other person Billy has ever fought, but Billy has years of bottled up rage and fear on his side.

He gets a couple of painful hits, but he also gets to deliver some shots of his own and Billy is trembling with adrenaline and raw fury when Neil is stumbling away from him and clutches what he hopes is a broken nose. “Get out.” Billy orders shakily. “Get out!”

“This isn't over.” Neil threatens, even as he backs up towards the front door, but the gray eyes are now clouded with pain and he suddenly doesn't seem so secure in his superiority anymore. “You hear me? This isn't over! And that goes for you too, Susan. I won't forget this!”

“GET OUT!” Billy shouts.

Neil spins on his heel and disappears out the door, slamming it shut behind him.  
In the silence that follows, Billy is merely heaving for air, staring at the door, fists clenched and his entire body trembling, but eventually he becomes aware of a soft sobbing and he slowly glances over to where Susan is standing in the kitchen, trembling hard and on the verge of breaking down.

Billy makes himself walk over to her, his legs doesn't feel entirely steady, and asks quietly; “Are you okay...?” He's not prepared for her throwing her arms around him and hugging him close as she wails.  
Billy doesn't move at first, too surprised, then he slowly places his own arms around her.

-

It's close to eight when Billy finally parks outside the Harrington house. He'd been reluctant to leave after what had happened, but Susan had called a friend from her work, who had arrived with her husband to stay with her and make sure Billy's father wouldn't return. Coming home, Max had cast one look at Billy's bruised face and said; “He's back, isn't he?”

Yeah, Neil Hargrove was back. And Billy kept jumping at every sound in the house. He wasn't quite sure what he feared the most would appear; his father or that creature in his room. Either way, he'd ended up asking if it would be okay if he headed out for a couple of hours. He needed... Steve. He needed him to tell him it was going to be okay.  
Something in Susan's eyes was awfully soft and understanding when she nodded and asked him to be careful.

Turning off the engine, Billy is just about to reach out and open his door when suddenly the Camaro jolts as something heavy lands on top of it. Startled, Billy automatically leans back against the seat and his eyes widen as he sees a dark shape make its way up the hood of his car.

The creature is as he remembers it; a heavy head with small eyes, a thin body and powerful legs, followed by a long, thin tail. It does remind him of a dog, in a way, but it's a huge dog that is just... wrong. The head is too big, the body too thin, unnaturally strong legs and alien leather skin.

Billy stares in mute horror as the creature halts in front of the windshield and stares back at him with a low growl. He can't move. He's frozen. And something warns him that if he was to make a move, it would only provoke the thing to attack. Just like his father. No point in trying to run.  
-Don't show any weakness.

The creature lowers its head until it nearly touches the windshield, it doesn't have a nose that Billy can see, but he remembers the sound of it scenting the air for him. Then something even stranger happens.  
The creature begins to blur. It's like it is vibrating, shifting in and out of existence, its lines becoming soft, and Billy feels a silent tear run down his face when its face passes through the window like a ghost sliding through a barrier and the face approaches his.

He smells the overwhelming stench of rotten flesh.

The creature rumbles, snuffles, and a blob of drool drops to Billy's thigh as its mouth slowly opens.

The smell gets even worse. There are far more teeth inside that mouth than any animal could ever have use for. Whatever went into that maw wouldn't come back out again without being shredded to pieces.  
Billy wants to close his eyes, shut out the horror he's looking at, but he can't even do that.  
The creature's head is almost close enough to touch Billy now, its horrible breath a constant reminder that he's not dreaming, and he swallows hard against the rising panic.

That's when the creature suddenly freezes, tenses up, as if it is hearing something, then it turns its head slightly and growls.

Billy starts when it abruptly withdraws through the windshield, but he still does nothing but to stare and shiver as it stands on the hood of the Camaro and seems to be listening for whatever it had just heard.

Movement to the left of the car catches Billy's attention and to his continued disbelief; he sees some old guy dressed in a fancy black suit. Someone who is currently walking towards the creature and the Camaro like he's got no worries in the world.  
He's holding a small, shiny object up to his mouth, the light from the Harrington house bounces off it, and the creature actually lies down on the hood, still growling, but clearly put in a passive mode.

The stranger stops a small distance away and lowers what Billy now can see is a small silver whistle. The man smiles, but it is not a kind smile. It's the kind of smile a scientist would have when he is cutting up a particularly interesting specimen on his table. “Billy Hargrove. I'm pleased to finally meet you.”

Billy looks at the man, glances at the creature, then back at the man. Who was this guy? How did he know Billy's name? How did he control the monster with that whistle? What was going on?

“You can come out of the car.” The man says pleasantly. “It's not like that windshield is going to protect you anyway. You've seen what they can do.” The darkness appears to be moving around him, but Billy realizes that it is the other two creatures taking up protective stances next to him.

So this is the man behind those creatures. The one responsible. Swallowing hard, Billy opens the door and gets out of the car. He sends the creature on the hood of his car a wary look, all to aware of how vulnerable he is right now, before focusing on the stranger again. “Where is Hopper?”

“Ah, the good Chief Hopper.” The pale stranger looks almost anemic, somewhere in his 60ies and with thinning gray hair and an even thinner frame. He shakes his head with a smile. “He got a little upset and decided to interfere when I wanted to... invite you to my little project. A bit unfair, in my opinion. He already made a deal to keep that girl of his to himself, claiming her as family, but if he is going to run around adopting every promising child in Hawkins, well, that is just greedy. I couldn't let him get in the way, you see.”  
  
Billy shakes his head. So it **was** true; Hopper had been taken because he was trying to protect Billy. It **was** Billy's fault.

****

The man sighs. “I knew that man would be trouble. He learned too much back when he uncovered the truth about that girl, that the government have these shadow programs. I voted to have him put down, but they said no. Unfortunately. They thought he'd be more useful alive.” He rolls his eyes, clearly resigned at his boss' decision, before continuing; “My colleagues' program was shut down because of Hopper, so when he came sniffing around my work three days ago, I tried to reason with him. He had the girl, I wanted you, it was only fair, but no. He refused. Like I said; greedy.”

Struggling to understand what the hell the man was talking about, Billy realizes that this man had sent those creatures that night when he woke up with one of them in his room and Hopper had come there to stop him. “Where is he? What do you want?”  
  
“You are a very special boy, Billy.” The man smiles again. “The Byers boy, his connection is old, too weak, but you... You were much closer to it, weren't you?” He takes a step forward, but stops when Billy flinches away.  
“Where is Hopper?” Billy demands, despite how terrified he is.

“I tell you what,” the stranger says, overly pleasant as he reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a small business card, “I will give you my card and then I will give you some time to think about your decision.”  
“My decision?” Billy snaps, on the verge of screaming under all this tension. “What the hell are you talking about?”  
“Your decision to my offer.” The man steps closer, the creatures by his side following, and Billy inches away until the creature on the hood gets up and growls, forcing him to stand still so the man can get close enough to hold his card out for Billy to take.  
Billy looks from the creepy face to the card and back again. “What... offer?” The man merely waggles the card at him and slowly, reluctantly, Billy takes it. “What offer?”

“It's simple: a trade.” The man gestures towards Billy. “You, for Jim Hopper.” He backs up a couple of steps, smiles. “Think about it.” He lifts the silver whistle again. “I will be in touch, Billy.” And then he blows the whistle, and while it doesn't make any sound that Billy can hear, all three creatures take off towards the forest and the man turns to follow them into the darkness.

Only when they are gone does Billy dare to exhale and lean heavily back against the Camaro. He glances at the card and finds it completely blank if not for a logo of a three-headed dog and the word ' **Cerberus** ' in capital letters.  
Casting one final look at the forest, Billy shoves the card into his pocket and hurries towards the Harrington house before the man can change his mind and drag Billy off anyways.

Luckily it is Steve who opens the door, happy to see him, but the pleased smile dies the second he sees the bruises and Billy's split lip. “Billy, what...?”

Billy feels numb. He can't feel the physical pain anymore. He can't feel anything. “He came back.”

“He? Who? Your dad?”

“Yeah. We need to talk.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Badly shaken by his unexpected visitor, Billy still finds the courage to set out to rescue Hopper from Cerberus...

Steve takes a hold of his arm and drags him inside. “Hey, mom, me and Billy are going to head upstairs for a while.” He doesn't really wait for a reply, merely sets off and doesn't stop until they're inside Steve's room and he can close the door. Turning to face Billy where he's standing by the bed, Steve raises his eyebrows. “What happened? Your dad came back?”

Billy frowns a little absently, not sure where to start. “He, uh, he just appeared on the doorstep. He was really pissed off.” He waves a hand. “He's gone now. It doesn't matter.” Billy takes a step closer to Steve. “I saw it again. That creature. From the campsite. The one in my bedroom.”  
Steve blinks. “O-kay?” He tries to act like he believes him. “So, uh, did it appear with your dad or...?”  
“Right now!” Billy hisses, pointing at the driveway. “Right out there.” He turns away and draws both of his hands through his hair, finally feeling the bruised muscles in his stomach objecting to the movement. “Dammit, Steve, you have to believe me this time!” Then he remembers and shoves his hand into his pocket and pulls out the business card before spinning around to hold it out to him. “He gave me this.”

“He?” Steve takes the card, looks at it and appears even more confused. “Your dad?”

“No. That... that old guy.” Billy says, the words spilling out. “That creature, that monster, jumped up on my car, stuck its head through my windshield, straight _through_ it, without breaking the glass, like a fucking ghost, and it was about to chew off my face when this old guy appeared. Along with the other two creatures. He had this silver whistle and he could control them with it.”  
Steve lifts his hands to make him stop. “Whoa, whoa! Wait. Hold up. There's an old guy too? Did he show up with your dad?”  
“No!” Billy exclaims. “Forget about my dad. He's got nothing to do with this. To hell with my dad! This old guy who can control these creatures appeared outside your house, Steve. He told me he is with some shadow program, or whatever he called it, and that he is the one who has Hopper. He claims he's willing to make a trade.” Billy swallows hard. “He said he'd trade Hopper for me.”

Struggling to catch up, Steve stares at the business card. “Cerberus? What the hell is Cerberus?”  
Billy huffs, frustrated. “I have no idea!”  
Steve lowers the card as his mind catches on to a detail in what Billy had just told him. “It went _through_ the windshield, without breaking the glass?”

“Yeah.” Billy walks over to sit down on the bed. The fear-adrenaline is starting to ease up now that he's with Steve and he merely feels exhausted again. “That's how it got into my room. It can move through stuff.” Which meant that no place was safe, really.

Steve bites at his lower lip, thinking, considering, and finally moves over to sit down next to Billy. “He offered a trade. Billy, what did you say?”  
“I didn't really say much...” Billy mumbles, feeling a flicker of shame at how passive he'd been. “He just gave me the card and told me to consider it and that he'd be in touch...”  
Shaking his head, Steve takes a hold of his arm, watching him intently. “You can't be seriously considering it?”

Billy opens his mouth, only to close it again, not sure how to respond. How could he **not** consider it? If there was a chance to free Hopper, he owed it to him to try. “He took Hopper because Hopper wouldn't let him get to me.”

Shaking his head again, Steve tightens his grip on him. “If he took Hopper, we're not giving him you. If he took Hopper,” here the corner of Steve's lovely mouth tugs at a wry smile, “then El is going to tear him apart.” He gets up and pulls Billy on his feet as well. “Come on. We gotta go.”  
Billy nods, only making a slight face as his bruised muscles complains against the sudden movement, but of course Steve notices.  
Steve stops, frowns and then gestures towards Billy's stomach. “Show me.”

“It's nothing. I've had worse.”  
“Show. Me.”

Billy reluctantly lifts his sweater and both fury and sadness flutter across Steve's face as he sees the red and bruised skin that will turn all sorts of color in the coming days. Combined with the split lip and his scars, Billy looks like he's been through a war.

“I hope your father has left town,” Steve says quietly, moving over to ease Billy into lowering the sweater again and meets his gaze with a deadly calm; “because if I see him, I will beat the ever living shit out of him.”  
And Billy is stunned into silence as he realizes that he believes every word.

-

Neil Hargrove gestures for the bartender to refill his glass. The bar is dark and filled with smoke, both suiting him perfectly as it lowers the visibility of his injured his face. The cut on the bridge of his nose has finally stop bleeding and he doesn't think his nose is broken, but it still hurts like hell.  
He still can't believe that Billy had the audacity to lift a hand against his own father. The boy truly has no concept of respect!

Neil grabs the glass of whiskey and downs the content in one sharp move.  
It's probably that damn Hopper's influence. Neil knows it is. He remembers too well the policeman's wrath after Billy had ended up in the hospital again. Which hadn't been Neil's fault, he'd just smacked him around a little, but Neil was still the one who got run out of town, bloody and humiliated, threatened by a furious Chief of Police.  
Respect and responsibility. Now that Hopper was gone, it was time for both.

“Neil Hargrove.” A voice says next to him.

“What?” He gestures for the bartender to refill his glass once again before glancing over. Neil is surprised to see a young woman, she couldn't be a day over 20, with a pretty face and blonde hair, wearing a black suit, sitting next to him.  
“I have an offer for you.” She says.  
Neil raises an eyebrow and sips at his whiskey, making no effort to hide how he's eying her from top to toe with faint interest and contempt. “Are you sure you're old enough for that, girl?”

She smiles, but it's a tight smile, like a snake. “What if I could give your life in Hawkins back to you?”

Neil straightens slightly and suddenly he isn't amused anymore. “What?” Her make-up, her clothes, her hair-cut, it's all expensive and high class. Why is this girl in this shady bar? “Who are you?”

“My name is Cerberus.” She replies, placing a business card on the bar counter. It's a blank card, except for a logo of a three-headed dog and the name 'Cerberus' in capital letters. “I work with two other colleagues. And we're interested in your son; Billy Hargrove.”

Picking up the card, studying it, Neil lowers it and taps it against the counter. “I'm listening.”

-

Steve is slightly disappointed when they arrive at the Byer's house only to discover that Joyce had taken Will and El with her to go out and put up some more Missing posters. Which means they are forced to merely wait, alongside Nancy and Jonathan, who are still working on replacing windows.

“Cerberus...” Jonathan muses out loud as he hammers in a nail. “Where do I know that name from?”  
“Greek mythology.” Nancy replies, looking at the business card Steve had handed to her. “It's the three-headed dog that guards the gates of the realm of the dead, or something.” She tries to will herself into finding some hidden clue on the card. “It's probably a code-name or something.”  
Billy leans back into the sofa, tries to relax, as he's both tired and in pain. “Too bad we don't have a list of secret government organizations we could check it up against.”  
Both Jonathan and Nancy tense up and exchange a meaningful look. Billy doesn't see it, his eyes are closed, but next to him, Steve catches it and sits up straight.

“What?” Steve says, eagerly. “You guys actually have a list like that?”  
Jonathan shakes his head slowly. “No... We don't...”  
“But,” Nancy adds, a little awkwardly, “we know someone who probably does.”  
“Who?” Billy asks, now awake and sitting up eagerly as well.

Jonathan and Nancy exchange glances again. “I'm not sure if he'll talk to you...” Nancy says reluctantly. “He told us never to contact him again.”

Billy is exhausted, hurting and fresh out of patience. He gets up and takes a looming step towards Nancy, hands clenched into tight fists. “What is his goddamn name?”  
Jonathan quickly moves over and gets between him and Nancy. “Hey. Calm down, man.”  
Steve gets up as well, placing a hand on Billy's shoulder. “He's calm.” The iron grip he has on Billy's shoulder to restrain him says he believes otherwise. “We're all calm. Just give us the name, Byers, okay?”

Jonathan hesitates, but finally opens his mouth and that is when they hear a car pulling into the driveway. Instantly distracted, they all flock to the window and the relief is thick when they see it's Joyce returning with Will and El, and not a cop car to bring more bad news.

Seeing the Camaro, panic briefly flutters across Joyce's face and she makes a dash for the front door to the house. Yanking it open, she comes trotting inside, followed by the two younger children. “Jonathan?”  
“It's okay, mom.” Jonathan says, even as she stares from him to Billy and Steve and back again. “Something happened, but we're not hurt.”  
“What?” Joyce snaps, too nervous to care about etiquette. “What happened?”

“The creatures appeared again.” Billy says. “And this old guy appeared with them. He said he's got Hopper.”  
Hopper's name makes both El and Joyce start. Joyce gathers herself and says; “And?”

“And he gave Billy a business card.” Steve intervenes, before Billy can tell her about the offer of a trade. “It only has the name 'Cerberus' on it. And a picture of the three-headed dog. It's apparently some secret organization. If we can find them, we'll find Hopper.”  
“Do you know anything about this Cerberus?” Joyce turns to ask El, who looks both hopeful and devastated as she shakes her head. Will just looks scared and confused.

“Jonathan and Nancy were about to tell us the name of some guy who would know.” Billy adds, hoping to put some pressure on the two. “Right?”

“Murray...” Joyce mumbles, nodding a little to herself. “Yeah. Yeah, he might know.” She draws a deep breath. “We need to talk to him.”

“No offense, Mrs. Byers,” Billy says, seeing this tiny woman ready to do battle, “but this old guy? He managed to kidnap Hopper **and** he can control these creatures with this whistle of his. He's not playing around. This could get dangerous.”  
“So?” Joyce sends him a furious glare, so fierce and unexpected that Billy actually automatically takes a step away. “You thought two boys barely old enough to shave would be the right ones to deal with it on their own?” She scoffs at the notion. “You go wait in the car, Billy Hargrove. My car, in the backseat, you can bring Steve if you want to, and we'll head over to Murray. Go. Now.”

Billy struggles to find words, to argue, to get angry, to be the strong man his father wants him to be, but he ends up with a mere; “Yes, Mrs. Byers.” instead and heads towards the front door.  
He hears Jonathan saying he'll come too, but Joyce won't let him.

“If they are after Billy because of his connection to this thing, they might come after Will too. I need to know he's safe, Jonathan. I need you to look after him, keep him safe for me and I will be back as soon as I can. With Jim. Deal?”

Billy leaves the house before he can hear the rest, uncomfortably aware of how Joyce will tear apart anything that threatens her children while he had been left behind to deal with his father's anger on his own. Strange how it hurts even after all this time... It hurts like hell.

-

A part of Billy wants to point out that it isn't exactly fair that he and Steve didn't get to do a little investigating on their own while Joyce decides it is a good idea to bring a little girl to what can get pretty dangerous if the old guy re-appears, but he keeps quiet as he knows he's only seen a fraction of El's powers and doesn't really want to get on her bad side. Also, he's still sulking over the fact that he got placed in the backseat while El gets to ride shotgun. Steve by his side is the only good thing in this scene and he leans against him to leech of his heat. He always get cold when he's tired.

El is studying the business card, as if she too is searching for some hidden clue. “What did he look like?” She asks. “The man.”  
“Like an old guy.” Billy grumbles. “You'll know it when you see him. Kinda hard to miss. Why?”  
El lowers the card and stares at the road instead, answering almost a little absently but with no hint of humor; “I just don't want to hurt the wrong old man when we find them.”

A chill runs down Billy's spine and he realizes all too well why Joyce brought the girl. Billy wants to find Hopper. El and Joyce wants the same, but they also want to severely punish the ones who are responsible for it.

They drive for almost an hour before pulling up to a small, worn down house with an old, beat-up car outside of it. Joyce parks next to the wreck and sighs. “We're here.”  
Getting out of the car, Billy glances around as the others get out as well. It could almost appear as if no one is living there if not for how they can see that the light is on inside the house. And when they approach the front door, Steve nudges Billy and points towards one of the trees nearby and he sees a red light blinking from one of the branches; revealing a hidden camera there.  
Who was this guy?

Knocking on the door, Joyce has an impatient look her face as they wait for a reply. When nothing happens within thirty seconds, she starts hammering her tiny fist on the door. “Come on, Murray! I know you're in there!”  
After that it doesn't take long before the door opens a tiny glitch and an angry eye glares out at them. “Dammit, Joyce! I told you not to come here!”

Joyce shoves the door open to reveal Murray Bauman in a worn-out bathrobe over his pajamas, wearing slippers and a less than well-maintained hair-do. “I need to talk to you.”  
“It's late and...” Murray flings a hand out to gesture towards El. “You brought _her_ here?” And then he sees Billy and nearly shrieks with rage. “And **him**?!”  
It's dark and the lighting is poor, but Billy squints at the guy and vaguely remembers him from somewhere. Wait. Yes. He'd seen him at the police station once. He wanted to talk to Hopper.  
“Why not just set my house on fire, Joyce?” The man continues to rant. “Have you any idea how difficult it was to find a new domicile that could be made safe and where the government wouldn't be looking for us? And now you bring their two most wanted my way!”

Joyce shakes her head. “Murray, listen to me!”  
“No!” Murray shouts, waving a finger at them. “No, no, no! I'm not getting involved! I can't!”  
“We just need some information.” Steve shoots in when the guy has to draw breath.  
“That's always how it starts!” Murray shouts. “And it ends with government conspiracies and interrogation rooms and people dying!” He cuts Joyce off before she can speak again; “NO!”

Billy almost misses the time when his father was the most crazy thing in his life.

Out of nowhere, a head suddenly pops up behind Murray's shoulder and some pale guy with curly hair is peering curiously at them, saying something that makes no sense whatsoever but is clearly a question. It makes Murray shake his head fiercely and fire something back in what most definitely sounds like Russian.  
Steve goes pale.   
“Alexei!” Joyce breathes with relief. “Tell him to let us in. We need help.”

“Help?” The guy clearly called Alexei echoes in a weirdly innocent chirp. He straightens and shoulders his way by Murray and smiles broadly at them all. “Help!” He's dressed like he's going to the office at any moment.

Murray groans and thumps his head against the door.

“Who... is that?” Billy asks as he leans towards Steve.  
“I think... he's Russian.” Steve mumbles, flooded with uncomfortable memories.

Alexei shakes his head, pointing at himself, still with a wide and now proud smile. “American!”

-

They are sitting around a table covered with newspapers, documents and countless other sheets of paper while Murray is switching between staring at the business card and digging through his files and Alexei is fluttering around, handing out cans of coke or whatever they want to drink or eat.  
“I know this...” Murray mumbles, getting up and walking over to another table and starts digging through some papers there. “Cerberus... I know I've heard that name before...”

Steve warily watches Alexei as if he's expecting the man to suddenly suggest some casual torture for fun. If Billy wasn't so damn tired and on the edge, he'd find it hilarious. The Russian has to be the least scary person Billy has ever seen.

“Ah-HAH!” Murray exclaims, making everyone, Alexei included, jump with startled looks on their faces, which he promptly ignores and comes marching back to the table, waving some papers in the air. “I knew I'd heard that name before!” Murray slams the paper down on the table. “Cerberus, military division, genetics.” He sits down and leans forward. “It was said that they were working on illegal biomodification to create the ultimate soldier.”  
“Like me.” El declares quietly.  
Murray makes a face. “Well, yes and no. In your case, they wanted your brain powers. You are valuable. Unique. Cerberus, they wanted something... less complicated. It's the army. They want mass produced weapons that can be used and discarded and then deny any knowledge of them.”

“Where can we find them?” Joyce asks.  
“Excellent question...” Murray mutters, leaning back in his chair. “They had a base about three hours south of here, but these reports are over a year old. I have no idea if they're still there.” He gets a defensive look on his face. “Hey, I've been busy, okay?”  
“So we go there and check it out for ourselves.” Billy says, staring at the report on the table.

“Yes.” El says, while Steve merely sighs and shrugs. Joyce is the one who hesitates, then gets up.   
“I need to call Jonathan. Let him know. Just in case.” She says.

While she talks to her children and Alexei is introducing El to some tv show, Steve drags Billy into the hallway where they can talk privately.  
“You sure about this?” Steve asks. “You could stay here. We can go, check it out, maybe Hopper is there, maybe he's not, but you're the one they want so maybe you shouldn't...”

Billy knows Steve is making a valid point, but he can't stay behind and do nothing. “I owe him, Steve. If Hopper is there, I gotta get him out. Like he helped me.” He tries and fails at a smile. “Besides, if they want to grab me, it's not like these walls around going to keep them out. I'm not safe anywhere, Steve.”

Steve clenches his jaw, not liking that statement one bit and yet unable to contradict it, he suddenly slides an arm behind Billy's neck and yanks him into a fierce embrace, holding as much of him as he can as close as possible to himself. “Be careful. Promise me.”  
Nodding while hiding his face to Steve's neck, Billy wishes this didn't remind him so much of a goodbye and how it gives him a premonition of bad things ahead. “You too.”  
“You think they have a baseball bat?” Steve asks, only semi-joking. “Mine is still in your car.”  
“We can ask.”

Steve pulls back a little, but only so he can lean in again and they meet in a gentle kiss. Too gentle. Again, it reminds Billy of a goodbye.   
He lifts his hands up to cup Steve's face and pulls him in for a firmer, filthier kiss and he can feel Steve smiling into it, making him smile in return. It feels a little better.

“I think some of the things you can do with that tongue is illegal in certain states, Hargrove...” Steve says, an echo of a time before this new nightmare had begun.  
Billy responds with a lewd tongue gesture, followed by an insolent grin and an even dirtier kiss.  
Steve groans into it, responding eagerly before he shoves Billy away with a breathless laugh before they come to a point where they'll just ignore the fact that there are other people there. “Freaking tease!”  
“No.” Billy says, a little breathless himself, and winks at him. “A promise.”

“Hey!” Murray sticks his head out into the hallway. “What are you doing out here? Wait. You know what? Never mind. I don't want to know. Just get back in here.”

-

Despite constantly complaining, Murray decides it is best he comes with them to the base. And while he tries to persuade Alexei to stay behind, it does not go well. Billy doesn't speak Russian, but it is easy to read the agitated body language that tells of Alexei's determination to go with them and for a moment Billy thinks he might have hallucinated the man saying something about Rambo?

They all end up going. Joyce, El, Billy and Steve in one car. Murray and Alexei in theirs. And despite the tension and uncertainty of their mission, sitting in the car, no one talking, surrounded by the dark and the gentle hum of the road as the hours pass, Steve sags more and more towards Billy and is soon snoring softly against Billy's chest. It feels good, grounding, despite his sore muscles.

Fighting hard to stay awake, Billy wraps one arm around Steve and stares at their reflection in the car window. He loses the fight a good fifteen minutes later, but he doesn't dream, has no nightmares, and he doesn't wake up until a hand gently shakes his shoulder and Joyce's voice says; “We're here.”  
Sitting up properly, waking Steve as he does so, Billy tries to blink the sleep out of his eyes and realizes the car is still and empty. They're parked by some trees and it's awfully quiet outside.  
He and Steve glance at each other, then they get out of the car and walk over to where Murray, Alexei and El are already waiting.

“There.” Murray says, handing Steve some binoculars and points.

Steve looks and curses softly. He hands the binoculars to Billy, who grabs them and has a look for himself.   
Down a slight slope from where they are hiding; a military compound surrounded by a solid fence and barbed wire. It looks pretty much unchanged from the year old pictures Murray had at his house. There are soldiers milling around and army vehicles parked outside the main building, which looks more or less like a bunker designed to keep people out.  
“How are we getting in?” Billy asks. He sees no trace of the old guy or those creatures.  
“Easy.” El answers.

And it turns out; it is easy. If you got a girl with psychokinetic abilities with you.

Murray hands them two radios (Advising her to only use them in case of an emergency!) and some cutters, he and Alexei will stay with the cars, in case something goes wrong, while the rest heads into the base. Sneaking around the back, Billly cuts a hole in the fence and they slip through and head towards the main building.  
They are discovered by two guards, who are quickly made unconscious thanks to El, before they can alert anyone. She also has no trouble forcing the door open when they discover it is locked.  
It's almost too easy. It makes Billy uncomfortable.

“Where to now?” Steve asks once they're inside and sees a long, empty hallway in front of them. There are countless doors on each side of the hall. Everything appears to be made out of iron.  
“We look.” El states, marching forward.

It is eerily quiet inside the building. Too quiet. There are only occasional, distant voices, from somewhere deeper inside the base, but otherwise there is no sign of life at all.  
They're halfway down the hallway when one of the doors in front of them is yanked open and someone comes running out, only to be forced to an abrupt halt in front of them.

Billy stares with open disbelief. “Dad?”

Neil Hargrove is deathly pale and panicky and he stares wide-eyed at his son. “Billy?” Then there is the sound of voices approaching and before anyone can really react; he grabs Billy's arm and drags him over to the door across the hall. “This way!” He opens the door and shoves Billy inside.

The door leads to a storage room and once Billy is inside and the others have automatically followed into the room, Neil closes it and leans against it, swallowing hard at the sound of army boots stomping by where they're hiding.  
Billy stumbles over to the safety of Steve and the others before glancing back at his dad, still not believing what he's seeing.

It is bizarre enough that he'd meet his father here, how the hell had Neil Hargrove ended up inside an army base, but Billy is somehow more morbidly fascinated by what he sees in his eyes, due to the simple fact that he has never seen his father _terrified_ before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, uhm, I got a little carried away writing so I fear next chapter might be up real soon...!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil Hargrove brings them to Jim Hopper.

Waiting until the voices and the sound of boots have faded, Billy dares to take a step towards his father, who hasn't moved. “What are you doing here, dad?”  
Neil swallows hard, appearing to be still listening for the voices and the boots. “It's, uh, I didn't...” He has to visibly pull himself together. “A woman. She said she had an offer for me. I should have known better than to trust anyone who calls herself Cerberus. What kind of name is Cerberus?” He lets out a quiet but shrill laugh. “So stupid!”

Billy can see the cut on the bridge of his father's nose, where Billy's punch had hit him, and he knows, in the marrow of his bones, that this is is father, but he still seems like a completely different man. 

“What did she show you?” Joyce asks, stepping up next to Billy. “Did you see anyone else?”  
Neil closes his eyes and nods as if he has found the answer to some riddle. “You're here to find Hopper.”

“He's here?” El says, stepping up next to Joyce. “You've seen him?”  
Neil opens his eyes again and looks at her with quiet defeat for a long time, then he slowly nods again.  
“Where?” El demands, now stalking over to stand in front of him. “Where is he?”  
“Inside what she called the Black Room.” Neil answers in a flat voice. “There is something special about that room. She said it was... shielded? I'm not sure what she meant by it. But they're keeping Hopper there.”  
“Where?” El repeats, even more demanding in her voice.  
Neil closes his eyes again, as if hiding from the reality. “It doesn't matter. You can't get to him. They won't let you. We need to get out of here.”

“We're not leaving without Hopper.” Billy states.  
His father opens his eyes again and looks at him with a strange look. He's quiet for a long time, then says; “You know, if they catch you, they're going to throw you into one of those rooms too.”  
Billy holds his gaze. “We're not leaving without Hopper.”

Neil shakes his head, but El reaches out and grabs his arm, forcing him to look at her.  
“Where is he?” She says, with absolutely no hesitation or fear.  
Glancing over at Joyce and finding no support there, Neil sighs. “This place is like a maze.”  
“Then you'll show us.” El orders.  
Neil exhales a faint laugh and shakes his head. “I'm not going back down there.”

El's eyes narrow slightly and every object in the room starts to rattle. “Show. Us.”

Glancing around the room with open incredulity, Neil finally focuses on El again and gives a weak nod.

They leave the storage room, with Neil casting constant nervous glances in every direction, before he leads them back through the door which he'd originally emerged from. Inside the door there is an iron staircase leading down into what appears to be nothing but darkness.  
Billy tenses up, feeling like he's stepping into one of his nightmares, but when Steve sends him a quizzical look, he forces himself to pretend everything is fine and goes on. Even if this is a trap, they have El. If anyone is stupid enough to attack, they'll regret it pretty fast.

At the bottom of the stairs is yet another iron door and once they pass through that, they're in an open and brightly lit room, oval shaped, with seven doors to choose from.  
Neil enters the middle one. It leads them into yet another hallway. It really is a maze.

Once they have to hide inside what appears to be a laboratory when a handful of soldiers approach and soon march by them, but other than that; there's hardly any people there. They all pretend not to see the needles and the dried blood on the floor in the laboratory.  
Finally they come to the end of a third hallway and Neil points at the iron door at the very end of it.

El doesn't hesitate. She walks over and pulls it open by clenching her fist with such a force that the iron twists and a trail of blood runs from her nose.

Inside the dark room, on a bed, the only thing in there, with an IV attached to his arm, appearing to be asleep; Jim Hopper.

“Dad!” El runs inside, followed by Joyce. Billy and Steve stops in the doorway, watching, while Neil is leaning against the hallway wall and jumps at every sound.  
Hopper doesn't react to what his happening. Even when Joyce pulls the IV out of his arm, when El tugs desperately at him, pleading, crying; “Wake up, dad. Please...!”, he remains asleep.

“What have they done to him?” Steve asks Neil.  
Billy's father shakes his head. “I don't know...”

“We have to get him out of here.” Joyce says, knowing it will be no easy task.

Billy nudges Steve and they walk into the room. “We got him.” And they get a hold of an arm each, pulling and maneuvering until they manage to get the unconscious man between them and then they stand up; pulling Hopper up with them.  
Billy sees Steve struggling under the strain. “You okay?”  
Steve nods, but he doesn't seem inclined towards a lengthy conversation while supporting Hopper.  
Billy tries to take more of Hopper's weight. “Okay. Let's go.” He has no idea how they're going to get Hopper up all those stairs, much less out of this building, but they can't give up now.

They walk, make slow progress, but it is progress. Neil is constantly urging them to move faster, but makes no effort to help them. Joyce clutches the radio in her hand, looking wide-eyed at their surroundings, while El keeps most of her attention on the unconscious man. They carry Hopper between them through hallways and rooms and only hesitate for the briefest of moments before they begin to make their way up the stairs. They are all too keenly aware of the absence of people and sounds.

By the time they're halfway, Billy is struggling hard, he's dangerously tired, and Steve is even worse off. He's just about to declare that they need to stop, rest a little bit, when Hopper moves. It's not much, it's more a twitch than anything else, but then it happens again and this time with a faint groan.  
“Jim?” Joyce says at the same time as El exclaims; “Dad?”

Billy and Steve exchange looks, hardly daring to believe, but then they feel Hopper's arms tighten and move, seconds later the man is trying to get his feet under him and they can see him struggling to open his eyes.

“Hey, boss,” Billy says, unable to keep a faint smile of relief off his face when Hopper finally manages to peer blearily at him.  
“What...?” Hopper slurs, closing his eyes again, almost toppling both Billy and Steve as he tries to stand and fails.  
“Careful, Hop!” Joyce pleads, grabbing a hold of his shirt and holding him steady. “I think they drugged you with some powerful stuff. Careful.”

“Drugged...?” Hopper manages to get his eyes open again and smiles a little at the sight of El. “Hey, kid...”  
“Hey.” El counters, tears in her eyes. “Came to get you home.”  
“S'good. Thanks.” Hopper mumbles. He glances over at Steve, then Billy and frowns. “You shouldn't be here...”  
“Neither should you.” Billy counters, then hoists Hopper's arm a little over his shoulders. “Think you could help us get you up these stairs?”  
Hopper grunts. Which probably means that he'll try.

It's still not easy, but Hopper does help, as much as he can on unsteady feet, and that means they actually do make it all the way to the top.

“It's you.” Hopper says, as tired and sweaty as both Billy and Steve by then. He's coming more and more out of whatever drugs they'd given him to keep him unconscious, but he's still weakened and unsteady. “They're after you, Billy.”  
Billy clenches his jaw. “I know.”  
Hopper frowns. “Well, if you know, why the hell are you here?” -Are you an idiot? Is implied in the words.

“I told you,” El says, “to get you out.”  
Exhaling, Hopper shakes his head wearily. “You need to get him out of here first.”

Struck with a sudden surge of anger, Billy glares over at him. “I know what you did. That night. You stopped them from taking me. So I'm here to return the favor. Shut up and walk, Chief.”  
Hopper looks at him, studies him, like he can't understand why Neil Hargrove doesn't approve of his son, and finally gives a nod.  
“Good. Now let's get out of here.” Billy says, and they open the door and enter the final hallway that would lead them to the exit and one fence away from freedom.

They have taken three steps down the hallway when the front door opens and a blonde woman in a black suit enters.

Following her, flanking her, are two enormous creatures. A lot bigger than the ones which had attacked them at the campsite and appeared in Billy's room, almost as tall as El, and these had massive bodies and thin legs instead of the reverse like the others, along with powerful, curved horns on their head. It gives them a weird resemblance to a ram, except for their massive size and their complete lack of wool to cover their light gray leather hide. That, and the fact that their mouths are far too wide, has too many teeth and they open them like a snake unhinging its jaw in a threatening gesture.  
The smell of rotting flesh is the same, though.

The door opens behind them and Billy hears the sound of far too many army boots for comfort and the clicking of weapons being cocked.

“Billy Hargrove.” The woman says. “We didn't expect to hear from you so soon. Have you decided to accept our offer?” She's smiling, but her eyes are dead.  
Before Billy can react, much less reply, the woman is suddenly yanked through the air and slammed against the wall and he turns his head to send El a shocked stare.   
She stares back at him with fierce determination. “Go. We are leaving.”

That's when complete chaos breaks free and everything happens at once.

The big creatures bound forward, only to be throw against the wall like ragdolls, soldiers start shouting threats, Hopper shoves Billy and Steve away to launch a powerful punch at a soldier stupid enough to actually approach them and Joyce tries to get a hold of Murray on the radio.

A soldier tries to ram the edge of his weapon at Billy's face, but he ducks and gives a punch to his face in return. He spins around just in time to see some other soldier pointing a gun at him, which makes Billy freeze up for a second, but then Steve appears and uses a weapon as a bat and knocks the soldier unconscious with a wide swing that ends in a hard impact.

“Go!” Hopper shouts, leaning against the wall. 

A group of soldiers fly by them, tossed away by El's powers. Billy barely avoids getting hit by a boot as one of them flails frantically as he goes by him. “Not without you, so COME ON!” He and Steve runs over and grabs a hold of Hopper again, hoping that El will be able to keep the soldiers at bay. For one second, Billy blinks incredulously as he sees Joyce Byers pull a helmet down over a soldiers eyes before kicking him in the groin, but he forces himself to focus and they start to make their way towards the front door.

The blonde woman in the black suit is getting back up on her feet, wiping at the blood running from her nose, and she does not look happy. Billy also notices that when she gets up, so does the creatures. They don't seem happy either.

El steps in front of them, placing herself between them and the woman and her creatures, ready to take them down again, but Hopper grits out; “Behind us, kid.”

Glancing over his shoulder at the same time El does, Billy sees not just one more of these big creatures, but the old man and his monsters are standing there as well, flanked by far too many soldiers with all sorts of weapons. More dog-like creatures are emerging through the solid walls by the second. They move through the solid walls like blurred ghosts only to become real again once they are in the hallway.

“That's him.” Billy mumbles.  
“Yup.” Hopper adds. He's struggling to believe what he is seeing.

And as they watch, the steady stream of the old man's creatures continues. There has to be close to thirty of them now.

“That's not good.” Steve says. Billy had told him the monster had gone through his windshield, but hearing they could move through stuff is quite different from actually seeing it.  
“Nope.” Hopper agrees.  
“We need to get out of here.” Billy knows he's stating the obvious, but he doesn't care. “Now.”  
“Yup.” Hopper says.

“You're not going anywhere.” A familiar voice counters and Billy realizes that he's forgotten all about his father in the middle of this. He sees Neil Hargrove step forward to turn around to face them, his back confidently towards the blonde and her creatures, and there is no trace of fear in his eyes anymore.

“They offered you a deal.” Billy remembers out loud.  
“Yes. Yes, they did.” Neil replies with no small amount of pride, savoring the tired resignation in Billy's eyes and the fury in Hopper's glare. “Also, they told me you've been lying to me all this time, son. You weren't injured in some freak accident at that mall. No, you were infested by some creature and you even tried to kill your own sister.” A cold smile emerges on his face. “And now these good people here have offered to take you off my hands. For a compensation, of course.”

Billy shakes his head a little. “Then... why did you help us find Hopper?”  
Neil shrugs. “They weren't prepared for you showing up this early. Had to buy some time so they could prepare the trap.”

The blonde woman lifts her hand and the creatures bound towards them and while El flings them aside once more, she has to spin around and face the wave of the old man's creatures heading their way.

Neil grabs a hold of Billy's arm, but Steve's fist connects with Neil's face before he can do much more and the two end up in a furious fist fight.

Joyce ducks under Hopper's free arm and lets him shift his weight towards her and off Billy, freeing him to help Steve. “Go!”  
Billy doesn't hesitate, merely shoots forward and is almost close enough to reach his father when something slams into his back and sends him crashing to the ground. Gasping for air, rolling over on his back, he sees one of the old man's creatures standing over him, maw open, and the next second; it explodes into wet pieces.

“Get up!” El orders, already focusing on the next threat heading their way. 

Billy turns over and tries to get up on his feet, but a sharp pain suddenly shoots up his leg and he feels his entire body being yanked backwards, along the floor. Twisting over on his back, he sees that another one of the old man's creatures has bit down on his leg and is now pulling him away from the others.

In raw desperation, Billy automatically kicks at the creature's face, hard, several times, and eventually it lets go with a pained yowl and he feels hot blood running from the teethmarks.

Billy hastily twists back on his stomach and scrambles up on all fours and then up on two and he manages to run three steps before he's slammed back down on the floor again and a heavy weight on his back knocks the air out of his lungs. The seconds he is stunned, the time it takes for him to regain the ability to breathe, the weight disappears and the pain in his leg returns, in both of them now as two creatures bite into each leg, preventing him from kicking, and Billy automatically flails for something to grab hold of as he's being dragged off.

“Billy!” Steve calls out his name, tries to free himself from Neil's grip and fails. “BILLY!”  
A group of soldiers are surrounding Hopper and Joyce, holding them back.  
El turns and reaches out a hand to help Billy but is quickly forced to defend herself from several monsters charging at her instead.

Billy, flailing, panicking, has a violent flashback of being dragged into the basement to the Flayer and a surge of adrenaline allows him to grab a hold of the door frame when the old man's creatures tries to drag him out of the hallway, to the stairs that leads down into the darkness below.

He remembers Heather's eyes. He remembers people sobbing for their lives. He remembers being trapped inside his own body, watching himself doing the most horrible things and unable to stop.  
-Nonono, Billy's brain is screaming in anguish. -Not again. NO!

Agony shoots up his legs as the creatures pulls at him to make him let go, but Billy refuses. Instead, despite feeling his flesh being torn apart, he uses all of his might and manages to pull his torso back into the hallway while the beasts tugs at him.  
He's not becoming a monster, a killer, again. He's not! He refuses! God, he can't! Please!  
But the creatures are so strong and they keep yanking at him and Billy knows he won't be able to hold on much longer. He's so terrified he can't even think!

That's when he sees them. And he simply acts.

Lurching forward, Billy uses what strength he has left and manages to reach out and grab two hand grenades off the belt of a fallen soldier just inside the hallway. He's quickly yanked back again, but Billy clings to his prize and uses his elbows to hold on to the door frame to prevent the creatures from dragging him out of the hallway. The abrupt halt causes the many teeth to tear more of his flesh and Billy screams with pain, but he doesn't let go. It hurts so much. He's bleeding. The creatures are digging their teeth in deeper to get a better hold.

Shivering, at his limit, Billy manages one last look at Steve, still desperately trying to get to him, and he feels a weary, detached kind of sadness.   
-We were good together, he thinks, grateful he at least got to have these months of happiness. He got to feel what it was like to be a part of something.

“I'm sorry,” Billy whispers, for once not ashamed of the tears in his eyes, then the creatures pulls him through the door.

Seconds later, there is a violent explosion in the stairway. Flames, debris and smoke is vomited into the hallway. The echo of iron buckling and bending sounds like the cry of a dying animal.

Steve screams. He's struck with absolute dread and horror and he screams.“NO!”   
At the same time, the old man drops the whistle, staggers and clutches his head with an agonized sound as well.

“Right!” The blonde woman exclaims, ignoring everything and everyone to run to the old man's side. “Right, you have to let go!”

Confused by both the explosion and the blonde woman's action, Neil loosens his grip on Steve and that is all Steve needs to deliver a harsh elbow into the man's face and break free.  
Steve bolts towards the door, barely noticing how the creatures are now as confused as Neil and even snap at each other and the soldiers instead of them. He dodges creatures and soldiers alike, doesn't stop until he's standing in the doorway and stares desperately into the darkness.

The iron stairway is almost gone, torn apart due to the explosion, and Steve scouts frantically for any trace of Billy.   
He makes a broken sound, can't breathe, when he sees the huge amount of blood on the wall, as if something had either been crushed against it or been torn apart all together by the explosion.  
“Billy!” He screams into the darkness, but there is no answer. “BILLY!”

Behind Steve, the old man shivers, almost convulses, clutching his head. “He's dead...” He mutters. “He's dead. I can feel it. I felt him die, Left.” The dog-like creatures are whimpering too.  
The woman wraps a protective arm around the old man and glares at where Hopper is standing more or less on his own with an exhausted El by his side, ready to go down fighting, and Joyce is talking into a radio with some excited man answering her. “I know. But you have to let go. We still have work to do.”

Torn between grief and disbelief, Steve turns to look at them as a suffocating anger grows inside him. It grows until he sees nothing but red rage.  
The woman makes a gesture with her left hand and one of the ram-like creatures appears by her side, ready to defend.

“Steve!” Hopper's voice snaps.  
Steve glances back at him, sees the man gesture for him to get over to his side, but he hesitates.  
“Steve...!” Hopper repeats, his voice tense with both anger and concern.

Turning back to give the woman and the old man a final look, Steve then slowly makes his way over to Hopper and the others, stepping through the carnage left behind by El's powers clashing with the creatures without looking at it. It's like a whirlwind of white noise inside his head. He can't think, can't feel, can't anything.  
Neil is still sitting on the floor, clutching what is now a most definitely broken nose, glaring at him.  
Walking by him, Steve doesn't look his way, merely lashes out a violent kick that connects with the hands covering his face and registers with distant satisfaction the sound of him falling over.

“We're getting out of here.” Hopper states, looking at him with only concern now.  
Steve stops by his side, but his gaze is back on the old man and the blonde woman, knowing they are to blame.  
“They won't get away with it.” Hopper reassures him quietly. “But if we stay, we all die.”

All. Not just Billy.

Steve draws a sudden breath and feels tears welling up in his eyes. “Billy...”

“They're here.” Joyce suddenly says, half-hidden behind Hopper. “We have to go.”  
Hopper places his hand on Steve's shoulder and gives it a squeeze. “Let's go.”

Steve doesn't want to go. Steve wants to stay there and make them all pay for what had just happened. Steve wants to hear them scream and watch them disappear in a loud explosion that leaves them as nothing but a splatter of blood on a wall.  
But when Hopper and the others make a break for the front door, deciding to use the confusion amidst the creatures to keep the soldiers at bay, Hawkins' Chief of Police has a grip on Steve's shoulder, dragging him along, and Steve is too numb to protest.

Outside the fence, Joyce's car is running and waiting, with Alexei in the driver's seat. Murray's car is at the front gate where Murray himself is creating a ruckus and keeping the soldiers busy.   
Alexei gestures for them to hurry.  
Hopper is struggling to pick up the pace so Steve automatically ducks down to wrap one of his arms over his neck and helps him run. Joyce has a firm grip on El, who is bleeding badly from her nose and seems unsteady on her feet as well.

Once they're inside the car and speeding away, Steve in the passenger seat, Hopper in the middle of the backseat with Joyce and El on each side of him, the silence is deafening.  
Steve closes his eyes, turns away from the others, and lets silent tears run free.

-

While the soldiers load up the equipment on the trucks to evacuate to the other location, a powerfully built, dark haired man in his late 30ies or early 40ies, dressed in a black suit, enters the lowest level of the army base. He sees the blonde woman sitting next to where the old man is lying on a hospital bed.  
“How is he doing?” The dark haired man asks.  
The woman shrugs. “Better.” She glances over at the door to the hall containing the animals now out of control as Right is out of his game. “We're going to need him to move them.”

“Don't worry, Left.” The old man called Right mumbles, not opening his eyes. “I'll be ready.”

“You should have broken the connection.” The dark haired man states, not pleased. “You know what can happen if you don't break the connection and there is a death. You could have ended up with severe brain damage. You're lucky you're not in a vegetative state!”

Left draws a hand through her blonde hair. “What is done is done, Center. He is going to be fine. No point in dwelling on it.” She tries to focus on the mission. “What about Will Byers? Are we going after him? We all agreed that Billy Hargrove would be a better target because of his stronger link due to his recent connection, but we still have Will Byers.”  
“I think we should.” Right says, still not opening his eyes. “He might be the weaker link, but he can be of use.”  
“They know about us now.” Left warns them. She's a little wary about the idea of challenging these people head on again. That girl was far more powerful than they'd anticipated. “It won't be easy to get near him.”

“First we are going to have to deal with the consequences of what happened here today.” The dark haired man going by the name of Center says. “The command won't be pleased.”

Left nods, knowing he's right; that there will be questions demanding answers after this mess.

“Will you be keeping an eye on him?” Right asks.  
Center smiles. “Of course.” He glances at the window. “I'm always watching them.”

“How long until we are ready to start moving the animals?” Left says. “Have the laboratories been emptied as well?”  
“We should be ready to move the animals within the hour.” Center turns to look at her. “And the labs are being set up at the new location as we speak.”  
She nods, relieved. “Good.” They have no time to lose when it comes to their work. “That girl broke two of mine. I need to replace them.”

Right gets a displeased look and changes the subject. “What about Neil Hargrove? He's of no use to us anymore.”

Center considers this for a moment, then says; “We'll bring him.”  
“I don't like him.” Left says, and Right nods his agreement to that statement.  
“No one likes him.” Center says. “But we can't let that interfere with our work.” He gets that stern look of his. “Understood?”

“Understood.” Left says.

“Understood.” Right says, before he sits up on the bed and turns his head in the direction of where he can sense his lovely children are waiting, confused and angry. He opens his eyes and ignores how Left and Center tenses up at the sight. Right knows it unsettles them to see all the ruptured blood vessels in his eyes, reminding them of the risk that comes with their gift, but he doesn't care.

Right has work to do.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve mourns while Cerberus continues their work.

Steve watches Hopper talking on the payphone, but it still feels like he's trapped in a nightmare and what he's seeing, what he just experienced, isn't real. It can't be real.  
The memory of the explosion flashes before Steve's eyes and he flinches hard.  
Something touches his elbow, gently, and he glances over with a start.

Alexei is holding out a can of Coke towards him. The Russian who hadn't stopped smiling since they met him is looking at him with a sad, sympathetic expression instead. Murray must have told him. Murray, who is talking to Joyce next to the payphone booth. He looks upset too.

They hadn't driven for more than a couple of minutes before Hopper insisted on them stopping at the first phone and letting him call in the cavalry. This meant they were now parked next to an abandoned gas station in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by darkness and the October cold.

Steve accepts the can, mostly to make the other man go away, which he doesn't, he just keeps hovering anxiously, so Steve turns away to stare at the dark horizon. He knows that the second he acknowledges what had happened at the army base, that they will be going home without... In that second, the tears will come back and he won't be able to stop them this time. He knows he will break down howling when he sees the Camaro. What is he going to say to Max?  
Steve gulps down some air, feels the grief snapping at his heels, and he desperately glances around for something to keep it at bay. Anything.

He sees El sitting in the backseat of Joyce's car, alone, pale and miserable.  
He hears Hopper shouting angrily at whatever poor soul is on the other end of the phone.  
He remembers seeing Billy saying something before he could pulled through that door and not being able to hear it.  
Steve gulps for air again and quickly marches over to Joyce's car, leans against it to talk to El through the open window. “You okay?”  
El nods. But it's not really convincing. She has tears in her eyes.

It brings Steve dangerously close to crying as well. He opens the can of Coke and takes a long drink before offering to her. He waits as she drinks and accepts the can back.  
There is a long silence before El speaks. “It's my fault.”  
Steve swallows hard. “No.” He stares at the can. “It was them. It is all on them. Cerberus.” He glances over at her. “You can find them, right?”  
El looks at him, nods and sniffles quietly. “Unless they're in one of those rooms. But they have to step out of it eventually.”  
“Good.” Steve says. He sees a drop of water hit the can of coke and glances up at the sky. It's raining? He hadn't noticed. But, no, he quickly realizes it isn't rain. Lifting a hand, he dries the next tear sliding down his face before it falls.

Steve remembers drying tears away from Billy's skin and how mesmerized Billy had been at the gentle touch. He hadn't gotten many gentle touches in his lifetime.

Clenching his jaw hard against the sobs that wants to break free, Steve looks over at El. She's crying again too. And it makes it even more real, more painful, so he asks for the impossible instead.  
“Can you find him?” Even if Billy is gone, Steve doesn't want to leave him there. In the darkness. Alone. Abandoned.  
Steve failed to keep Billy safe, but once Hopper's reinforcements arrive; at least they can bring him home. They can get him out of that darkness -Billy hated the darkness- and bring him home...

El nods.  
She uses a scarf, covers up her eyes and enters the Void.

Absently drinking up the rest of the Coke, Steve doesn't really taste it and for a moment he fears he's going to throw it back up, but then El makes a soft gasp and he turns his entire focus on her.  
El yanks her blindfold off and stares wide-eyed at Steve.  
“What?” Steve snaps, more than a little unsettled by the shock painted all over her face.

“Billy.” El says, voice shaking with disbelief. “Billy is alive.”

Seven seconds later, Murray turns to stare and shriek with anger as his car peels out of the gas station without him or Alexei in it, but Steve behind the wheel, heading back towards where they'd come from.  
Hopper drops the phone and instantly runs over to Joyce's car, where he'd seen Steve talk to El. “Where is he going?”

El stares at him, still in shock. “He's alive. Billy is alive.”

-

Arriving at where they'd parked the cars when they'd first gone there, searching for Hopper, Steve is out of the car before the engine is even fully off and he makes his way down towards where they'd cut the fence.  
There is a lot more soldiers now. A lot more. They're carrying stuff out of the bunker. There are dogs barking. Flood lights illuminating the entire area.

Steve doesn't care. He has to take his time to avoid detection, but he is going in.

He slips through the fence, runs over to the building and carefully moves along the wall until he approaches the turn that will place him where the entrance door is. He's just about to turn the corner when something wraps around his waist and yanks him back.  
Steve's first instinct is to fight. He squirms, kicks back at legs and automatically tugs at what he recognizes is an arm.

“Calm down.” A familiar voice hisses. “It's me.”

Hopper. How the hell had he caught up with him so fast? Steve calms a little, but he's ready to make a break for it the second he gets the chance. “He's alive.”  
“I know.” Hopper doesn't loosen his grip. “El told me.”  
“We have to go get him.”  
“He's not here.” Hopper says, tense iron in his voice. “He's in a car. They're already moving him.”

Steve hears what he's saying, but he merely shakes his head a little. “Then we grab one of them. Make them tell us where they're moving him.”  
“With all those creatures there? Don't be an idiot, Steve.” Hopper tugs him back a little when Steve tries a half-hearted push for freedom. “We have to go.”  
Steve gives Hopper's arm a frustrated shove, but it doesn't budge. “And if this was El? Would you just walk away?”  
“Of course not.” Hopper replies. “I'd do the exact same thing you want to do. I'd storm back in there. And I would get my stupid ass killed. But you're smarter than me, Steve. I know you are.”

“I left him...” Steve whispers, broken. “I let them take him away!”  
Hopper hushes him, casting a wary glance around for soldiers before focusing on Steve again. “You didn't know. None of us did. But we'll get him back. You hear me? We'll get him back.”  
“What if it is too late? What if they're going to kill him?”  
“If they wanted him dead, they would have killed him earlier.” Hopper replies. “They went to a lot of trouble to capture him alive. They want him alive.” He finally releases Steve, but only to turn him around and place his hands on his shoulders, making him meet his gaze. “I'm not going to give up on Billy. Don't you give up either. We're going to find him and we're going to get him back.”

Steve shivers and while it is a long shot, a desperate hope, a promise that Hopper can't possibly know if he'll be able to keep, Steve wants to believe. “Promise?”  
Hopper doesn't hesitate. “I promise.” He squeezes Steve's shoulders. “We have to go now. Before they notice we're here. And then we will find a way to get our boy back.”

Reluctantly, Steve nods.

And they disappear back into the darkness, unnoticed, but with a new mission.

-

When Billy wakes up, it is because his head is hurting too much for him to stay asleep.  
His body feels like it is made out of lead. There is a strong taste of iron in his mouth.  
And he quickly realizes that there are restraints around his upper arms, his wrists and his ankles. He can't do much more than squirm and possibly lift his head.

Opening his eyes, Billy has to blink several times to clear his blurry eyesight, only to realize he's staring up at a white ceiling. There is the sound of movement and he slowly turns his aching head to glance over in the direction of the sound. The room appears to be some kind of twisted mix between a hospital room and a laboratory.  
The blonde woman is standing there. She's writing something down on a notepad.

Billy turns his head away and closes his eyes again. God, his head is killing him. And now that his body is realizing he's awake, it is throwing in the rest of the complaints as well; his legs are burning from where those creatures had bit into him. And he suspects what he feels on his left shoulder is an actual burn. Most of his muscles feels like he's been through a ten hour fight with his dad.

“You're awake. Good.” The woman says.  
Billy glances over at her again. “Where... am I?” He rasps. He's clearly not dead, unfortunately.  
“We call it Tartarus.” She replies, lowering the notepad and scanning him with a critical look. “You have a pretty bad concussion. How are you feeling?”

Confused by her apparent concern, Billy frowns. “I feel like shit. Okay?” He licks his lips, horribly thirsty, but unwilling to ask for any favors. “The others? Did they get out?”  
That brings a wry smile to her face. “Yes.” She lifts her notepad and focuses on it again. “During your fusion with the hive-mind, how did you communicate with it?”  
The brief pang of relief that at least the others had gotten away is instantly drowned out by sour amusement and Billy huffs a ghost of a laugh. “Listen, I'm not sure what you're hoping to get out of this, but I'm telling you, lady, you probably know more about what happened to me than I do.”

“You can call me Left.” She says, lowering the notepad again. “We have done extensive research on the creatures from what you refer to as the Upside Down. Last year a new research program was approved, hoping to create a superior soldier, stronger and faster, using tissue from the dead creatures we collected in Hawkins. The results has been... intriguing.”  
Billy feels horror coil up in his stomach. “You've been infusing people with that stuff?”

“The trials began with animals first, of course.” Left corrects him. “But it was very strange. Only three species of animals survived the fusion, and then stayed alive only for a short period of time before their bodies broke down.” Dark amusement flickers in her eyes. “When it turned out that only three people survived the human trials as well, the program was called Cerberus.”  
“What do you want with me?” Billy asks, discretely testing the strength of his restraints and finding it impossible to make them budge an inch. “I'm not... that thing anymore. It's gone. We killed it.”  
“While our research is promising, we have met... limitations.” Left doesn't look comfortable admitting it. “Our hybrids can only survive for a period of time and then we have to replace them. We need to know how you survived for so long. And we need to know how you controlled a large number of creatures. As of today, we are limited to three where we can control them by a mental link, but beyond that; we have to use other means.”

So that was why the old man has used a whistle. And suddenly Billy realizes that the creatures didn't just remind him of dogs; they probably were dogs once. “You guys are really twisted, you know that?” Billy closes his eyes, signaling that the conversation was over. “I'm not going to tell you shit.”

“I thought as much.” Left sighs. “But I wanted to give you the opportunity. Right wanted to start working on you at once, he's still upset, very upset actually, that you killed his favorite, but he agreed to give you the offer of cooperation first.”

That didn't sound good.  
He hears her stepping away and so Billy opens his eyes and lifts his aching head to see her walking towards the one door in the awfully white room. He tries real hard not to look too closely at all the medical stuff on the counters on each side of the hospital bed he's strapped to.  
The door opens and reveals the old man. He smiles a little at Left, who merely shrugs and leaves, before stepping in to greet Billy.

“Good morning, Billy.” He walks over to a counter, looks at the instruments there, before picking up some scissors and turning to hover over him. “My name is Right. I feel it is time we got properly introduced. I was very worried that you were dead when we found you.”

Billy stares, unsettled beyond words at how the white in the old man's eyes is completely crimson, it's like his iris is floating in blood.  
“You probably meant for the grenade to kill you too,” Right says, studying the scissors, “but my children kept you safe. Their bodies shielded you from the explosion and cushioned your fall.”  
His children?! This was going beyond crazy.

Right sets his bloodshot gaze on Billy again. “Raff was my brightest. And my eldest. He was loyal and strong. And you killed him.”

Billy realizes the guy is talking about one of the creatures which had dragged him into that staircase. “Listen,” he warily watches the man clipping the air with the scissors, as if checking if they did indeed work, “whatever you're planning; don't. I didn't come here to kill anyone, okay? I'm sorry.”  
He has no idea why he's apologizing, it never worked with his father.

And it doesn't work with this man either.

Right places his free hand flat on Billy's stomach and sends him a smile that makes fear lick up Billy's spine. “Don't worry, Billy. Raff's sacrifice won't be in vain. You are going to help us solve the riddle.”

Billy twitches, tries to free himself from the restraints, especially when the old man takes a hold of the lower line of his t-shirt and begins cutting the fabric, working his way up towards Billy's throat while making sure that the scissors did not touch Billy's skin.  
“What the hell do you think you're doing?” Billy snaps angrily, tugging even more fiercely at his restraints as his shirt is split open and daintily peeled to the sides to reveal his bare torso.

Ever since he came out of the hospital, Billy has stopped wearing his open shirts and going shirtless. The scars left behind by the Flayer had put an end to that. He hates the sight of them.   
The only one who has seen Billy's scarred torso, the only one he trusts to show it to, is Steve.   
_-It's not ugly. You are not ugly._ Steve's voice whispers inside his head.

But laid bare in this too white room, under relentless light and the bloodshot eyes of a stranger, Billy certainly feels ugly. And humiliated.

It gets even worse when Right places his pale, curious fingers to the scar at the top of Billy's sternum.  
“Get your fucking hands off me!” Billy shouts with every ounce of the fury he feels.

Ignoring him completely, Right traces the entire scar with his fingertips, mesmerized. “It took quite a hefty bite here. Good. It might be some traces left. Something your body hasn't been able to break down yet.” He shifts his attention over to a scar by Billy's ribs, touching it as well, unfazed by how Billy struggles against his restraints as well as trying to shy away from the contact. “Yes, good...”  
“Stop touching me, you freak!” Billy spits, feeling his skin crawl under the cool fingers and continues his frantic efforts to free himself. “Let me go!” His headache now reaches the intensity of where he feels like he has to throw up, but he doesn't stop fighting. “Get your hands off me!”

Right makes a thoughtful hum and continues to examine every single scar, unbothered by the noise, and it takes several minutes before he withdraws his hands, to Billy's relief, but only to turn and pick up what turns out to be a massive syringe.

Swallow hard, Billy lies panting and fighting against the urge to vomit as he watches the man study the empty syringe. “Don't...” He almost adds 'please', but something tells him it will be as pointless as apologizing had been earlier. “Don't.”  
Right turns back to him and lowers the needle to the scar at the top of Billy's sternum. “If you hold still, it will hurt less.”  
“What? No!” Billy's words are followed by a shocked sound and his body goes completely still as the needle punctures his skin and then digs deeper. The syringe burrows until it is just about to hit bone, then it draws out the samples Right wants and is slowly withdrawn.

It doesn't matter that he doesn't move; it really hurts.

And Right continues to do the same with every single one of Billy's scars.

By the time he's finished, Billy is a sweaty, trembling and nauseous mess. He just wants to close his eyes and shut down, but he is in too much discomfort to be able to block it out. Staring at the ceiling, he tries to think about other things, good things, to battle the horror of reality.  
He thinks about Steve, of course he does, he so desperately wants to see him again, but he also thinks about Max, wondering how she's doing. Billy even thinks about Susan, hoping she's holding it together after what had happened, because Max is going to need her now that Billy won't be able to look after her. He briefly wonders if Hopper is looking for him, but he doesn't want to risk being disappointed by the one grown man he's grown to trust so he quickly shifts that thought into that he's glad Hopper is probably back in Hawkins and can protect the others. He and El will keep them safe. That's good. He likes that thought.

“Almost done.” Right's voice reassures him. “Just one more thing...”  
Billy slowly glances over at him, sees him filling up a smaller syringe with some blank liquid from a tiny glass container. He dreads what it is, what it will do to him, but he's scared to ask. “I don't want it...”  
Right smiles, but his eyes are cold amidst the blood. “We all have to make sacrifices, Billy.”

Refusing a whimper to escape from his throat, Billy braces himself and goes back to staring up at the ceiling when he feels the needle entering his arm.  
For the first ten minutes, he doesn't feel anything other than hurt he'd woken up with.

Then it begins.

-

Steve grits his teeth to prevent himself from yelling. “Two days, Hopper. It's been two days!”  
“I know!” Hopper growls back at him. They are standing in the parking lot outside the station, facing each other, Hopper leaning against his car, Steve leaning against the Camaro he has been driving for the last two days. “I know, okay? I'm working on it.”  
“Work faster!” Steve insists. 

Neither of them have been sleeping much since what happened in the army base.

Hopper straightens and takes a step forward, looming over Steve. “You think I'm not doing all I can to find him?”  
Steve glares up at him, eager to vent his frustration on someone, anyone, but he can't lie. He shifts his gaze to the side and replies honestly; “I know you're doing all you can.” He swallows hard. “I just... need you to do more.”  
Hopper places his hand on Steve's shoulder, giving it a squeeze and sighs. “I know, kid.”

They know Billy is still alive, but they had also watched El enter the Void that morning to seek him out, only to emerge with helpless tears trailing down her face and her whispering; “They're hurting him.”  
She has tracked down the old man and the blonde woman three times already, but each time the police arrived; they were gone, as if they knew they were coming.

Dusin had been mortally offended that Steve had not included him when they decided to go hunting for this new secret government group. After all, he proclaimed, he'd been a vital part in helping El in the beginning and to take down the Russians in Hawkins.   
Steve, already worn down and tense with worry, hadn't responded very well, merely pointed out the fact that Billy was missing and he didn't have time to play babysitter right now.  
 _-That's a majorly douchy thing to say_ , Dustin had said. _-You think you're the only one who wants to find him?_  
 _-You don't even like him!_ Steve shot back, strangely upset at hearing the word he'd more or less turned into a nickname during his and Billy's conversations.  
 _-At first? Hell no. But he's become less and less of an idiot. Occasionally. And he promised he was going to teach me to drive some day!_

Dustin had been really angry, really upset, but Steve was suddenly the one struggling to hold back the tears.

After that conversation, Steve had headed straight for the station and demanded to talk to Hopper. He can't go back home, can't risk meeting Max again. She didn't outright blame Steve when he'd come back without her brother, but he can see it in her eyes. He left Billy behind and she knows it.  
“They're hurting him.” Steve reminds Hopper, even though he knows he doesn't have to. There is no way that Hopper isn't painfully aware of that fact.

Hopper is about to reply when the door to the station opens and Powell sticks his head out. “Hey, Chief!” He's strangely unfazed by Hopper's sudden return after his just as sudden disappearance. “Some guy on the phone for you. Says he has the information you want?”

Hopper and Steve exchange looks, then Hopper bolts towards the door and Steve isn't far behind.

Nearby them, something that you'd think was a bird, as long as you saw it from a distance, watches from where it is perched on a tree branch. Its black eyes shine as it tilts its head slightly.  
There is the faint smell of rotten flesh in the air.

-

Billy has lost track of time. To him it has all become a blur of heat, pain and confusion. 

They cut him, take samples, inject him with stuff, do all kinds of tests, listens to his screams, and Billy stops believing he'll survive it.  
The old man, Right, is the one who does the cutting, while the woman, Left, does the tests and jots down the results. The last one, the dark haired one, Center, mostly observes, but he is the one who makes whatever decision that needs to be made.

Through the fever and hurt, Billy once or twice feels like El is there with him, it's like he can almost feel her reaching out for him, her voice a ghost of a whisper, calling his name, but he eventually dismisses it as wishful thinking and reminds himself that he is alone.  
He is alone and he's going to die there.

This day, or night, he has no idea, after Left has placed some headset on Billy and tries to make him connect with one of her beasts in vain, she finally exits the room and Billy is left to shudder through the aftermath of whatever Right had injected him with earlier.  
They don't even bother restraining him anymore. Billy is too weak to do much more than breathe and shiver.

His mind is spinning, its difficult to think, and keeps getting worse. He even gets to a point where he wonders if the thoughts inside his head is actually his thoughts, because some of them doesn't sound like him. Some sounds awfully primitive and strange. But he's too exhausted to really care.  
Billy just wants it all to stop.

He closes his eyes and when he reopens them; Billy discovers that the white room he's been kept in is now dark. It's not just that the light has gone out, the walls themselves appear to be gray.

“Hey.” A voice said. “You're not looking so hot there.”

Billy slowly turns his head and sees himself standing next to the bed, looking down at him. It's his old self; smug eyes, a cigarette between his lips and shirt wide open to reveal a flawless chest.  
Billy closes his eyes, for a long time, but when he opens them again; his old self is still there.

He smirks and takes a long drag from his cigarette. “Yeah, no, that's not gonna work, Billy-boy.”  
“What do you want...?”  
His other self drops the cigarette to the floor, places his hands on the bed and leans down to hover over him. “What do **you** want, handsome? You look tired.”

Billy gives a faint nod. “I am tired.”  
“They will continue hurting you, you know.”  
“I know.”

His other self sucks thoughtfully on his lower lip before he shrugs and asks; “Do you want me to take over?” He leans a little closer, blue eyes intense and strong. “No more pain. No more fear. You'll be safe. I'll take care of everything.”

Billy shuts his eyes again. He **is** tired, really tired of being in pain, sick and tired of being hooked up to machines and prodded with needles, damn tired of this damn fever... 

“That's it...” His other self croons, watching him like a hawk. “You go to sleep. Rest. They won't hurt you again. I'll take it from here.”

Suddenly there is only one Billy there, lying on the hospital bed, but when he opens his eyes; they are pitch black.  
And when he opens his mouth and screams; what emerges from his throat is not a human sound.

-

**Unknown location**

The Russian soldier watches as the monster stalks restlessly around inside the sealed room.  
Its last meal is still scattered around, but it steps through the remains that once had been a terrified man without looking at it and keeps pacing, like it always does, has done for months.

The soldier frowns when the demogorgon suddenly comes to a halt and stares at the western wall.  
It's almost as if it is listening to something.  
Something that is calling out to it.

And then the demogorgon answers.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The monster is set free and Steve remembers...

[ ](https://ibb.co/4pQHCpQ)

“Hey!” Neil Hargrove slams a hand against the door, glaring out the small window at the man standing on the other side. “Let me out from here! Do you hear me? Hey! Open this goddamn door!”

Center watches him with cool detachment. “Now, now, Mr. Hargrove. I do believe we agreed that some compensation was in order after you delivered your son to us? Your Billy has proven to be a treasure trove and we are most pleased. It would be a shame for us not to uphold our end of the deal.”  
Torn between suspicion and greed, Neil settles slightly. “If you're going to pay me my money, why the hell are you keeping me locked up here?”  
“Oh no. Oh dear.” Center makes an apologetic face. “I'm afraid there was never any money involved, Mr. Hargrove. No, we had a very different reward in mind.”

Neil slams his hand against the door again, too angry not to. “Listen, I don't care what freak-show you run here. You will let me out of this here room, right now! I have rights, you know! You can't do this to me!”

Now a slight smile slides across Center's face and he gives him a confidential look. “Actually, we can.”  
He turns and walks away, easily ignoring the pounding on the door and Neil Hargrove throwing a shower of curse words after him. With what Center had planned for him, Mr. Hargrove wouldn't be talking and bothering them for much longer.

On his way down to the underground laboratories, he pauses at some of the work stations, getting situation reports from the scientists working there, measuring their progress and scouting for new ideas to improve the success-rate of their experiments, but the only promising factor is how resilient Billy Hargrove's body appears to be against the foreign DNA they keep injecting him with.  
Even Cerberus barely survived a mix 1/10 of what Left had given Billy this morning. Whatever happened three months ago, it allows Billy's body to break down the threat before it is able to mutate and destroy him. It's utterly fascinating!

He is mid-stride when he feels a faint backwash and has to stop. Subject 759 is seeing something. Center focuses and uses the creatures eyes.

In a slightly foggy vision, he's never found a way to make it crystal clear, he sees the Hawkins police station and a whole bunch of uniformed people milling about outside of it, a bunch of police cars and the awfully annoying Chief Hopper and twitchy Steve Harrington in the midst of it all.  
It looks like they are going to head out on another attempt to find and free Billy Hargrove.  
Center frowns. Okay, this was going from irritating to a problem. 

Close to every time any one of them poked their head outside of Tartarus now, that girl would trace them and the police would follow. Maybe it was time to do something about it? They can't afford to waste time placing red herrings everywhere. They have work to do!

Center snaps his fingers multiple times to draw one of the soldiers standing guard closer. “Where is Left?”  
“I can find her.” The soldier says.  
“Do that.” Center keeps a faint connection to Subject 759. “Tell her I wish to see her in my office.”  
“Yes, sir.” The soldier runs off.

Center makes his way to his office and waits for Left to appear. There is no point in asking Right to attend as well. The man is either obsessing over Billy Hargrove or tending to his pets.  
It is time to deal with Hopper and Harrington permanently and to do that, Center is going to need a dependable bait.

Ten minutes later, the door opens and Left enters the office. “You wanted to see me?”  
“Yes.” Center says, sitting behind his desk, and gestures to the chair in front of his desk. “I want to ask for your assistance. It is time we dealt with these people who keep trying to steal our prize, don't you think?”  
Left takes a seat, shrugs, indifferent. “They are certainly not going to give up.”

Center is just about to tell her about his plan when the intruder alert starts blaring.

-

The intruder alert is howling and Right quickly makes his way down the hall to make sure the subject is secured. They cannot afford to lose Billy Hargrove now. He can't allow Raff's death to have been in vain.

Pushing the door open, Right is relieved to find that Billy hasn't moved. He's still lying as and where Right had left him earlier. Excellent.  
Closing the door behind him, Right steps closer and decides he might as well check Billy's vitals. Yesterday there had been traces of arrhythmia and that worried him.  
The second his fingers brush by Billy's wrist, Billy's other hand suddenly shoots over and grabs a hold of his wrist. Hard. And Right is startled to see that Billy is staring at him.

Regaining his control, Right frowns a little as he knows the boy shouldn't be awake. Not after what they'd put him through today. But there is no doubt Billy is watching him and then a slow smile creeps onto his face as well.  
For some reason, it makes the hair stand at the back of Right's neck. “You're awake?”

“We've been waiting for you.” Billy replies, gleefully.  
Right realizes that Billy's eyes look bloodshot, but only if blood was pitch black. “We?”  
“Yes.” Billy says. “We.”

And just as Right is about to ask who 'we' were, he hears a low rumbling.  
Spinning around, though still trapped in Billy's iron grip on his wrist, Right is shocked to see a dark figure in the corner of the room. So that's what triggered the intruder alert; something he's only seen dead.

The demogorgon steps out from the darkness, growling softly, its odd mouth opening and closing in an unspoken threat.

“How?” Right asks. He automatically begins mentally listing and classifying all the information he can see about the creature. It is truly magnificent!  
“She heard me calling.” Billy replies.

Right nods as it confirms what they already suspected; there is a mental link between the hive-mind and its servants. It's what allows Cerberus to communicate with their children.  
And speaking of his children...  
Right glances back at Billy. “I must thank you for bringing this gift to me.” He feels the approach of his children and guides them to his location.

Billy's smile merely widens, unfazed as the servants of Right walk through the walls and they and the smell of rotting flesh starts filling up the room. The demogorgon doesn't dignifying them with its attention, merely halts next to Billy and keeps its faceless face directed at Right.

“It doesn't have to die.” Right says, casting a quick glance at the demogorgon. “In fact, I would prefer if we could capture it alive.”  
“I bet you would.” Billy laughs softly. “But she's not the one who is going to die.”  
Right scoffs. “You're making threats? Billy, Billy... I thought we'd come further than that. As you can see, my children outnumber it by far. They will have no trouble tearing it to pieces.”

Billy makes a thoughtful sound and glances over at one random creature. “They could...” He looks back at Right. “But they won't.” The smile returns to his lips. “Because it's not her they want dead.”

Suddenly uneasy again, Right tugs lightly to free himself from Billy's grip.

“They trusted you, you know?” Billy says, not smiling anymore. His voice is hard with anger. Inside his head, he has heard the dogs they once were. “They trusted you and you made them suffer. Turned them into this. Took away their lives and gave them nothing but pain.”  
One by one, the creatures turns their attention to Right. Drool drips from their jaws.  
“They trusted you...” Billy says. “And now they're going to have their revenge.”

Right yanks free from the grasp and tries to take a step away, only to bump into one of his children, who snarls angrily up at him. “You can't...” Right reaches out and finds three minds, but he can't control them all with his mind. He didn't even bring his whistle. “You can't do this!”

Billy sits up and bares his teeth more than he smiles. “Oh, but I can.” He touches the head of the closest creature without taking his eyes off Right. “They are very angry. Once they learned the truth, they became so very angry.”

Right directs three creatures to attack Billy, turns and makes a run for the door.  
Billy's eyes narrow.

The demogorgon takes down one of the creatures who tries to blindly attack Billy, two former-dogs take care of the other two jumping towards him, while the rest all storm towards Right, who goes down screaming under a wave of bodies aiming to tear him apart.  
The screams doesn't last long.

Billy absently reaches out to demogorgon's back, stroking it thoughtfully as he watches the feeding frenzy. “Let's go home...”

The creatures forces the door open without any difficulty seconds before Billy gets off the hospital bed and walks towards it. The demogorgon follows close behind.  
The intruder alert is still howling. There is the sound of people shouting, running, panicking.

Billy doesn't bother looking, but he makes a faint gesture with his hand and the former children of Right scatters and goes hunting.  
Now there is the sound of people screaming and dying.  
Billy smiles.

He walks towards the stairs and soon emerges on the next floor, where chaos already awaits him with soldiers trying to hold back the creatures, firing their guns and screaming for backup, but the ground is already slippery with blood, even the walls are covered with it.  
Seeing Billy standing with the demogorgon amidst the slaughter, the soldiers panic and turns to flee with the few remaining scientists.

Billy turns and glances up at the camera in the corner of the ceiling. He can feel them watching and stares back.

In his office, Center watches the security feed on one of the many screens on the wall of his office and he feels, for the very first time in his life, true fear.  
Left is stunned by what is happening, pale and radiating disbelief, the death of Right still echoing inside her head. She stares at Billy Hargrove on the screen and grief morphs into anger. She clenches her hands. “I'm going to kill him.”  
Center reaches out and takes a hold of her arm as she makes a move to leave the office. “No.”  
She sends him a furious glare. “He killed Right.”  
“I felt it too. You know that.” Center hasn't taken his eyes off Billy, who hasn't moved one inch. “But if we go down there, he will kill us too.”  
Left sneers, but remains where she is. “So what do we do?”

Billy watches the camera for a few moments longer, then feels their presence grow weaker as they flee, and he can finally turn his attention back to his escape.  
He is almost at the end of the hall when he hears a familiar voice call out his name.

“Billy?” Neil Hargrove stares out the small window in his cell with no small amount of surprise. “Billy, is that you?”

Billy turns and walks over to the door.  
“Billy.” Neil confirms, relieved. “Open the door, son. You gotta get me out of here.”  
Billy looks at him, but his face is completely void of any emotion, same as his heart. 

The real Billy is curled up in the darkness, shut away, while the OtherBilly remembers what Neil has done to him in the past. He tilts his head a little. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Neil barked. “Open this door and let me out of here. Now! Do as you're told, boy.”  
Billy takes one step back, then another, then turns and walks away.

Neil slams his hands against the door, shouting at the top of his voice for him to come back and let him out, but when the creatures walks through the walls and flood into his cell; the shouts turns into screams and then into silence.

Billy doesn't stop, doesn't look back, merely continues to make his way out of Tartarus, surrounded by the blaring intruder alert, the sound of gun shots, creatures howling and people screaming. He walks through blood and carnage, ignoring everyone and everything, until he finally steps through the last door between him and the outside world. Only then does Billy stop and he draws a deep breath of fresh air.  
The demogorgon stands next to him.

For several seconds, they stand there, savoring their freedom, even as something explodes inside the building and several military vehicles are starting to line up in front of them.  
“You are surrounded!” Someone shouts at Billy. “Surrender or we will fire!”

Billy glances over at the demogorgon, then at the soldiers aiming all their weapons at him, and he smiles.

-

Steve stands by the police car, as ordered, but honestly; he's too shocked to do much else.

The building, clearly another military underground bunker, and its surroundings... Steve has never seen this kind of destruction. Not even in the movies.  
The building itself, people, vehicles, everything is torn, shredded, burning and broken.  
Whatever had happened here, it had left no survivors.

Finally Hopper emerges from the building, stepping out from the door where there is continuous smoke leaking out due to some fire inside, and he has the facial expression of a man who has seen things that is too horrible to comprehend.

Steve straightens, feels even more anxiety wash over him despite how he thought he was quite maxed out, and dreads what news the Chief will bring.

Hopper walks over to him and shakes his head. “He's not there.”  
Relief and confusion hits Steve at the same time. “I don't understand?”  
“He was here.” Hopper glances back at the building. “They kept him here to experiment on him.” A muscle twitches in his jaw. “Something tells me their experiment went wrong.”

Nausea washes over Steve. Billy was behind this carnage? “They must have done something to him. He would never...”  
“They did.” Hopper says, tense. “From what I gather, they tried to turn him back into... whatever he was at the mall.”

Steve closes his eyes, remembering how this had been Billy's biggest fear, but forces himself not to crumble under the weight of the guilt he is feeling for leaving him behind and allowing this to happen. “So where is he now?”  
Hopper absently watches as fire fighters and more soldiers are swarming all over the area. “I'm thinking he wanted to leave, they tried to keep him here, and he won. But where is he heading? No idea.”  
Steve takes a step closer to Hopper. “El will know.”

Taking a final glance at the frightening amount of damage done to the army base, Hopper turns his full attention to Steve. “She can find him. Then what? Think you can talk him down?”  
“Yes.” Steve doesn't hesitate.  
Hopper watches him, clearly considering the odds and the options, then sighs and gestures for Steve to get in the car. “Okay. Let's go.”

They start the long drive back to Hawkins.

-

El sits down on the floor, surrounded by anxious faces and feeling Hopper's sharp gaze resting on her, and she has to force her hands steady before putting on the blindfold.  
Entering the Void is easy now, she's had so much practice, but this time she has no idea what she'll find once she locates Billy.  
She hasn't seen what had happened at that army base but as neither Hopper or Steve would tell her about it, she knows it was bad. And Billy was the one who did it.

She remembers how scary it had been when she'd entered the Void the last time he had been possessed by the Mind Flayer. And even though Will says he hasn't feel the chills that warns of the Flayer's presence this time, El fears that is not a good thing.

It doesn't take long for her to find Billy Hargrove.  
But she is surprised by what she sees; Billy isn't on some killing spree. No, Billy is sitting on the ground, knees drawn up to his chest, his eyes are shut tight and his hands are covering his ears.

El snaps out of it and quickly makes her way towards him. “Billy? Billy!”  
But just as she is to approach him, a second Billy steps out of the darkness and places himself between them.

OtherBilly smiles like a razor blade and his eyes are pools of pitch black. “Billy is sleeping. Can't you see? You shouldn't disturb him.”

El tries to get by him, but finds herself blocked at every effort. “BILLY!”  
“Shhh!” OtherBilly insists, leaning uncomfortably close to her face. “I said...” His voice drops, becomes inhuman and terrifying, “ **don't disturb him!** ”

Flinching, El makes herself stare back at OtherBilly. “Let him go.”  
“I'm not keeping him here.” OtherBilly chuckles. “He's the one who walked away and left me in charge.” 

Something is moving in the shadows, growling and pacing.  
El watches it warily. She thinks she knows what it is, but how is that possible? They killed all the demogorgons, didn't they? “Let me talk to Billy.”

OtherBilly makes a playful face. “I don't think so.” He straightens and crosses his arms. “He wanted to be left alone, you see. He doesn't want to be bothered. He wants the silence.”  
“He doesn't want this.”  
“I think it is time you leave now.” OtherBilly states, suddenly very serious.  
“I'm not leaving until I get to speak to Billy.” El counters stubbornly. 

“I think you are.” OtherBilly says. His hand suddenly shoots forward and his fingers go around El's throat, grabbing a tight hold and cutting off her air. He lifts her up until her feet dangle helplessly. “And tell sweet little Will that I haven't forgotten about him either. You both are on the top of my list when I open the portal again. **Both of you!"**  
  
El struggles to free herself, feels the blood running from her nose, her mouth opens in a mute scream...

A scream that snaps her out of the Void and back into the real world.  
“El!” Mike is instantly by her side, helping her pull off the blindfold, trying to make sure she's alright. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Gulping for air, heart racing, El nods and waves his concern away. “I'm okay. I'm okay.”  
Steve takes a step towards her. “Did you find him?”  
She nods, absently wiping away her nosebleed with her hand. “But he's not alone...”  
Frowning confused, Steve exchanges glances with the others before asking; “Not alone? Who is with him?”

El glances over at Will, who is pale and clearly scared.  
“But... it doesn't feel like...” Will whispers, suddenly sounding uncertain.  
“I don't think it is... that.” El says, switching her gaze over to the tense looking Hopper. “Whatever they did to Billy, it brought back a part of it, but it is also part Billy. I saw the real Billy. He's trapped inside whatever they created. I couldn't reach him...”

“Where is he going?” Hopper asks.  
El shakes her head. “He didn't say, exactly, but...”  
“But?” Steve urges, on the verge of snapping.  
“He's coming home.” Will says quietly. “Isn't he?”  
“I think so.” El confirms. “He said... He said he was going to open the portal again.”

Everyone starts freaking out, but Hopper signals for silence and keeps a wary eye on El. “Can he do that?”

“He has a demogorgon with him.” El says, avoiding to question for a moment. “I thought they were all dead in our world.” She then stares down at her hands. “I don't know if he can open it again. I don't know. I just know that I have to stop him.”

-

Steve remembers.

He remembers the arguments, the fierce debate about who had to go and make sure, how they were going to make sure and the moment when he cut through the shouting and declared he would be the one who would go to the hospital and check if Billy Hargrove was indeed free of the Flayer or not.  
He'd felt that it would be better that he did it than the kids. He most certainly didn't want to put that kind of responsibility on Max. She'd been through enough. Same with El.

Steve remembers poking his head into the room. He remembers seeing Billy asleep on the bed and how the injuries were worse than he'd thought them to be. He remembers wondering how Billy was even alive.  
But most of all, Steve remembers Billy's eyes when he woke up and found him there.  
Steve has never seen anyone more alone.

It was like the walls had been shattered and Steve was able, for the very first time, to see the real boy behind the mask.

It was made him come back, day after day, telling the others he was making sure the Flayer was really gone while in reality it was because he couldn't see someone in so much misery and do nothing about it.  
King Steve would have decided it wasn't his problem. Steve decided to make it his.  
At first it had been like talking to a wall, Billy didn't respond, too drained by what had happened and the guilt weighing him down, but eventually there was a glance over at Steve, a faint curiosity as to his presence, and that was enough to give Steve hope.

It wasn't easy. Billy was a fractured soul, a pile of shattered pieces, and he would flinch away from the slightest contact. His confidence was gone, vanished, and instead he would curl in on himself and shy away from Steve.  
There were days when Steve feared it was too late, that there was no way to make Billy want to live again, that the damage done to him throughout his life, not just from the Flayer, had been too much, but Steve forced himself to keep going, keep reaching out, keep caring.

Steve remembers holding Max as she cried, terrified that Billy would never snap out of it, watching him refuse to eat and spend the days lying on his bed and staring at nothing. He remembers promising her that it would be okay, that Billy would be okay. 

Steve intends to keep that promise, even today.

They are now placed in different positions outside the building where it had all started, where the first portal had been opened, where Eleven had fled, and now they are waiting for Billy to appear.  
El has seen him approach in the Void, but her every visit leaves this OtherBilly, as she calls him, increasingly angry, and now they have decided to wait there and not risk injury to her by making her seek him out again.  
Steve is standing near the main entrance, tense and afraid, trying to hold on to his belief that he'd brought Billy back once and he can do it again.

Steve remembers Max calling him, pleading for him to find her brother, and finding Billy out walking in the pouring rain and cold. He remembers how Billy had shivered when Steve had made him get into the car. Billy had been soaked to the skin, his mesmerizing eyes still unwilling to meet Steve's gaze and his entire form radiating defeat. Steve remembers he wanted to scream.  
-It wasn't your fault. None of it! Your father was wrong, the Flayer forced you, and we don't hate you! You can't give up! I won't let you!

Steve remembers watching Billy fall asleep and the terror that haunted him even in his dreams.  
He remembers how Billy expected him to abandon him too.

-Never, Steve vows. He will never give up on him. He will die if that is what it takes, but he will never give up on Billy.

He remembers seeing the tiny flicker of life returning to Billy's eyes, he remembers how amazed Billy had been at the smallest kindness and how Steve had begun to hope.  
He remembers when he realized that he'd gone from caring to a lot more when it came to Billy, and swearing he would never act upon it and risk ruining the fragile friendship between them.  
Steve definitely remembers Billy suddenly kissing him. And then him kissing Billy.

He remembers Billy's smile, it seems like a life time ago that he'd seen that now, and how gentle his hands can be when they want to. Steve remembers being allowed to see and touch the scars on his torso, the return of Billy's devious humor and how he nearly buckled with gratitude at Hopper's trust in him by giving him the uniform. He remembers the constant bickering with Dustin and the others and his over-protectiveness when it came to Max... He remembers Billy being given a second chance at life and Billy reaching out to take it despite everything that had been done to him.

Steve remembers everything.

And he's not going to let it all have been in vain. He can't. Billy deserves better than this.

So Steve stands and he waits, as do the others, and finally he sees a familiar figure stepping out from the darkness to stop and look at him with a faint smile.  
Billy looks different, pale and dirty, his eyes are cold and the smile is cruel, but Steve doesn't care.  
He knows Billy, his Billy, is in there, and he is going to get him back.

To Steve's right, Hopper shifts uneasily and pulls his gun, but doesn't aim it at Billy yet.  
To Steve's left, El clenches her hands and sticks her chin out. She's also pale, but determined.  
Inside the building, the kids peer outside with a nervous Joyce hovering next to them.

Steve draws a breath, about to speak, when two more figures step out of the darkness.  
A blonde woman with three big creatures appears to the west. A lone dark haired man to the east. They both have their gaze set on Billy and they are indeed aiming their anger at him.  
Steve frowns a little, confused, but quickly focuses on Billy again.

Billy doesn't move, doesn't care, merely continues to smile. Standing next to him, the demogorgon stares at Steve too with its faceless face. Behind Billy, what seems like countless dog-hybrids move in the shadows.

Billy's smile widens.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody fights, some die and there is a betrayal...

Inside the building is his target; the portal. Between Billy and that are two mediocre obstacles, a couple of annoyances, a handful of nobodies and Steve.   
Steve, who is the only real threat and is the one who **has** to die.  
Billy will have to deal with the mediocre ones first.

Taking a step forward, stopping between Center and Left, Billy glances over at Center. “Are you sure you want to get in my way, Rafael?”

Center blinks. For the first time since he entered the Cerberus program, his unfazed front cracks and there is a brief flicker of surprise in his eyes..

“You killed our brother, Hargrove.” Left grits out.

Billy clicks his tongue and laughs, rolling his eyes a little. “The boys are talking, Margaret.” He keeps his focus on Center, sensing his unease. “Oh yeah, Rafael. I know all about you. I've sneaked a peek inside all three of your heads.”  
Center gathers himself again and gives him a blank look.  
Billy's eyes narrows. “You don't believe me?” He leans a little forward. “I know you went to Vietnam to fight in the war, Rafael. I know what you did there. I know you enjoyed it. Your escapades. That's why they picked you for the project.”

Billy turns to face Left. “And you, Margaret? Your blood-stained work in those labs was your life and you decided to experiment on yourself because, in your arrogance, you thought those people only kept dying due to the fact that they weren't as strong as you.” He smirks. “Did you consider the possibility that by injecting yourselves with that substance, hoping to create a superhuman, it could also leave you open to my eyes?”  
Left merely glares at him, too angry to care. She just wants revenge. Her fury is impressive.  
“Fine, let us talk about dear old Jacob. May he rest in pieces.” Billy drawls before he puts on an overly thoughtful expression on his face. “Don't the FBI have this fancy word for his kind these days? I bet even you, Margaret, didn't think he would survive your experiment when you pulled him off Death Row?”

“I'm going to kill you.” Left promises.  
Billy grins. “You can try.”

It is difficult to say who moves first. One moment everyone is frozen, then the next; everyone is mid-action.

Left sends her three goat-hybrids thundering towards Billy, Center pulls his gun and Billy sends just about every dog-hybrid charging directly towards Steve..  
Hopper doesn't hesitate to step in front of Steve and starts shooting at the creatures.  
El steps up next to him and starts flinging creatures away with her powers.  
Clutching his barbed bat with both hands, Steve stares with horror at the flood of misshapen creatures storming towards them.

The demogorgon slams into the first goat-hybrid, taking it down, the second hybrid Billy dodges with an inhuman speed and the third, he takes a hold of one of its massive horns and, with inhuman strength as well as speed, he flings it to crash into the second hybrid.  
Billy snarls as a bullet hits his shoulder and he turns to face Center, who has both hands on a gun and is firing it at him. It doesn't hurt, not really, but it is annoying and pain might attract the sleeping Billy's attention.  
Dodging more bullets, Billy reaches out and turns a small group of dog-hybrid to charge at Center instead. That is all he's got time for as one of the goat-hybrids is charging at him again.

Cerberus can only control three minds at the time, but as long as they are within that mind, it's hard to take over. Hard, but not impossible.  
Billy reaches out for the goat-hybrid's mind like a wrecking ball; hoping to break Left's concentration.  
It doesn't work. Billy hits the mental brick wall, but he doesn't shatter it. She's too strong.

The background noise of guns being fired doesn't worry Billy. He knows Center and Hopper both are hoping bullets will be enough to take down the hybrids, but it won't be. They are too used to pain to be brought down by anything but death and they move fast; making them difficult to hit with a kill-shot.  
He launches another attack at the goat-hybrid's mind, seconds before it reaches him, and while he doesn't gain control, it is enough to send it stumbling off course.  
It also makes Left turn her focus fully on that particular animal, giving Billy the opening he was looking for and he quickly hijacks the mind of the other goat-hybrid.

Billy has the absolute pleasure of seeing the shock in her eyes as he turns the creature and sends it towards her instead, forcing her to defend herself instead of attacking him.

Snapped out of his smugness, Billy instantly turns to look when he hears a strange whooshing sound from above that grows increasingly louder. He sees Center has dropped his gun, out of bullets, and he now stands with his arms stretched out, palms up, and his eyes are pitch black.

From the surrounding trees, buildings, everywhere, small shapes takes to the air, flapping their wings, and the sound grows increasingly louder as more and more join in.

Billy makes a face. “Ah, fuck...”

“Inside!” Hopper shouts, firing non-stop at the wave of monsters coming at them. He has changed clip twice already, hears the guns being fired from inside the building as well, but these things just keeps on coming. 

Laying this plan, they hadn't calculated on Billy arriving with an army of monsters or these two strangers butting in as well. It is time to reevaluate things!  
El stands strong, throwing creatures away and actually pulling some apart, but they move so very fast and there are so many. Hopper knows she can't take them all. Especially if these two strangers have brought more creatures in addition to these.  
“El!” He snaps. “Get inside. Now!”  
She sends him an annoyed look, but takes a reluctant step backwards.

Hopper reaches back and takes a hold of Steve's shoulder, aiming to push him towards the building too.  
“No. Wait.” Steve pleads. “He's right there. I can get to him.”  
“Kid. I'm sorry.” Hopper puts down the creature jumping at them. “If we stay out here, these things are going to tear us apart. You won't get close enough.”

And that's when the sky comes alive with small to middle-sized creatures. From what Hopper can see, they look like a bizarre mix between birds and bats. And there are so many of them.

“INSIDE!” Hopper orders, now shoving Steve along as he heads for the door himself. “Hurry!”  
El sees the threat and, for once, obeys.

They manage to get inside and run over to the window where the others stare out at what is happening.  
Joyce, Nancy, Jonathan and Murray are still aiming their weapons out the broken windows, while the other kids are hovering around Alexei who is kneeling next to the whirring machine he'd put together earlier.

“I hope this thing of yours works, Smirnoff.” Hopper mutters, seeing the four-legged creatures, the ones which had arrived along with Billy, now charging the building. Joyce, Nancy and Jonathan starts firing their guns.  
Murray pumps a spent shell out of his shotgun and takes aim at one of the creatures. “It's Alexei.”  
“Whatever.” Hopper replies, loading his handgun without taking his eyes off the incoming threat. “As long as that machine works, I'll call him whatever he wants.”

Alexei swallows hard and sends them a nervous smile. “Should work.” He clears his throat and wipes the sweat off his brow. “I hope.”  
Dustin throws his hands out and whines. “You hope? Really?”  
Hopper cocks the gun, aims and takes down one creature. “I told you kids to stay home, Henderson. You're not even supposed to be here. So do me the favor of shutting the hell up.”

And that is when the flying creatures outside starts to dive bomb Billy, who is forced to both make a run for it and use the ground-bound creatures as living shields.

Steve hovers helplessly behind the others, clutching his baseball bat and is seconds away from running back out there.  
El glances back at Steve. “Don't.”  
Hopper takes down another creature. “What she said, Harrington.”  
Steve clenches his jaw hard and forces himself to remain where he is.

“Incoming.” Murray shouts.  
Steve goes into battle position, bat raised, and the children flood over to hide behind him.

Outside, one of the creatures has managed to get close to the building and it becomes a blurry shape just as it jumps directly at the brick wall, aiming to pass through it to get to its prey like it has done before.  
The creature slams into solid concrete and actually bounces off it before ending up in a confused heap on the ground. Shaking its head, it takes several seconds before it gets back up and tries again. With the same results.

Hopper exhales a laugh. “It works! The goddamn thing actually works! They can't pass through the walls!”  
Alexei closes his eyes in mute relief and slumps back to sit on his behind, mumbling a prayer of gratitude in Russian. When he'd come up with the theory of the creatures being able to pass through solid matter because they were only partly from this world and could shift to the rules of their own home, and that putting up a power shield with the energy signature from the other place would make the wall solid for both of their DNAs, he hadn't thought it would be put to this kind of test!

“They can still come through the windows and the doors.” Joyce warns, one eye closed to aim and shoulder aching from the constant recoil from the gun.

“Then we don't let them get that close.” Hopper declares, firing bullet after bullet, searching out targets, and suddenly he has Billy in his crosshair. 

The boy has paused by a tree, looking up and scouting for the threat from above, while creatures battle around him. He's completely unaware of the threat and would never be able to dodge the bullet.  
Jim simply has to pull the trigger and it would be over. Yet it takes only half a second from when Hopper has Billy in his crosshair to when he lowers the gun.

He can't do it. He just can't. The boy has been through enough and if there is a way to bring him back, then, dammit, they will bring him back. There is still paperwork for the kid to do at the station and who can ignore the fact that Billy managed to charm the woman owning the donut shop to lower her prices. Also, Hopper never got the chance to talk to him regarding going about getting him officially instated as a police office in Hawkins.  
Hopper swallows hard and starts firing at the creatures again.  
That boy is going home with them.

Breathing hard, bleeding from several wounds, Billy presses his back against the tree and tries to make out how many of the flying creatures are swarming up there.

Right had given him an army of about 46 dog-hybrids and Billy knows Left had her 3 goat-hybrids, but from what Billy can sense, and he knows that can't be correct, it's hundreds and hundreds of bird-hybrids up in the air now.  
It's not possible because there is no way Center would be able to control that many. Yet, he is.

Billy was forced to flee as Center sent one after another dive bombing down at him, spearing and cutting him with their beaks and claws, ignoring that a lot of them died during the impact, they just kept coming, but how the hell is Center doing it?   
Billy's guess is that he reaches out for one mind at the time and gives the order before releasing it and moving on to the next, but this means Center is dangerously fast. Even faster than Billy. That's not good...

Peering over, Billy sees the man scouting the area for him, hands held up, ready to send the hybrids diving again. His eyes are still black. There is a trail of blood from his nose which means there is a cost to what he is doing. He can't do it indefinitely. Good.  
Billy just has to wear him down. No problem. He can do that.  
He takes one step forward, aiming to run over to another tree, draw some attention and drain Center a little more, when something slams into him. If feels like he's hit by a bus. Billy is sent flying through the air before he crashes to the ground and has the air knocked out of him.

Gasping and curling up defensively on his side in case the birds will start attacking, Billy knows he has to get back up on his feet again, right now, or Cerberus will kill him. But his battered body howls its complaints, there is blood in his mouth, and so Billy can't really fight back when a boot comes down on his arm and turns him over on his back.  
Left gazes down at him, a goat-hybrid by her side, but there is no gloating triumph in her eyes. She's still merely glaring at him with cold fury. There is actual hate in that glare. 

Billy coughs, smiles a blood-stained grin and doesn't even try to hide the gloating triumph in his own eyes when the hate turns into surprise and fear as the demogorgon leaps at her.

It's not easy, but when Left goes down screaming under the weight and teeth of the demogorgon, Billy instantly reaches out for the minds of the two remaining goat-hybrids and when he hears Center roar his agony at feeling his partner's death; he sends them charging at the last head of Cerberus.  
There is the sound of an impact, the sound of a thousand wings flapping and fading.  
After that, silence.

Billy allows himself a few moments before he rolls over and pushes himself up to sit kneeling in the grass. Cerberus is dealt with, he still has some dog-hybrids and the two goat-hybrids left and now there is only the biggest obstacle left.  
He doesn't really fret over Hopper and the others. They're easy prey.  
Steve is the problem.

Billy gets up on his feet, takes stock of the state of his body, decides it's not too bad, cuts and bruises, possibly a broken rib, but nothing that will prevent him from getting to where he wants to go.  
He starts walking towards the building, ignoring how the people inside it are shooting at the hybrids, knowing there is no way they will shoot Billy.  
He's almost close enough to enter the building when the door opens from the inside and reveals Nancy and Jonathan there, aiming their guns at him.

“Stay right there.” Nancy orders firmly. Jonathan's gun trembles a little, but there is determination in his eyes too.  
Billy gives them a broad smile. “Or what?” He throws his arms out and takes a step closer, ignoring how Nancy cocks the gun. “Are you going to shoot me?” He lowers his arms and the smile disappears. “I don't think so.”  
Nancy's eyes narrow. “One step closer and you'll find out.”

Billy hesitates. He doesn't know Nancy well enough to judge whether she's bluffing or not. Her face says she's not and Billy knows Nancy hasn't had much reason to grow attached to the real Billy.  
He turns his attention to Jonathan instead. “Your little brother... I can _smell_ him in there.”

Inside the building, Steve glances over at Will and sees him flinch. The kid had been pale from the start, but now he's close to transparent. By the window, Joyce is visibly torn between wanting to save Billy and the urge to protect her son, but Will makes the choice for her by shaking his head at her. He can do this.  
“Ready?” Steve asks quietly.  
This time Will nods. Then he closes his eyes, frowns, and tries something he's never done before.

Steve hears Billy laugh. But it's not Billy's laugh. Not really. This is... someone cruel.  
“Tell your brother to give up.” Billy's voice says. “He's too weak. He's barely connected anymore.”

The shotgun barks as Murray takes care of a creature which had tried to sneak up to the building.

Steve hates this, just waiting, he **hates** it! Billy is right there, just outside the door, and he's aching to go to him. Steve can bring him back. He's sure of it! But instead he's forced to wait...  
-Give him the chance and he'll kill you, Hopper had said and ordered him to wait right there.  
Steve knows Billy would never hurt him, not in a million years, but he also knows that this isn't his Billy.

Cursing from outside the door and ruckus from the second floor tells Steve that Lucas, Mike, Dustin and Max have now started their bombardment of Billy with whatever they can get their hands on up there.  
That means Hopper and El are about to make their move.

Forced to back up to avoid being pummeled by the debris the kids are throwing down at him, annoyed by Will's weak mind prodding at him, Billy snarls and he almost fails to see Hopper appearing to the left.   
He instantly sends the goat-hybrids towards the policeman and has a moment of disbelief when the creatures suddenly goes flying sideways mid-run before he spins around to face El standing behind him. Billy snarls again, then summons every dog-hybrid there to attack her.

He doesn't get the chance to watch whether they succeeded or not as Billy is then forced to avoid Hopper's fist and rewards him with a punch of his own in return.  
It's a punch hard enough to break bone, but because they are both moving Billy doesn't manage to land it at full strength and has to be satisfied with the man falling down on his back with a pained grunt.  
A quick glance over at El reveals that she is still being kept busy by the hybrids, but she won't be stopped if she sees Hopper is in trouble so there is no time to waste.

Billy moves over and places his boot on Hopper's throat, smiles, and then starts adding pressure.  
Hopper grabs a hold of his leg, tries to pull free, but Billy isn't the mere human he's gotten to know anymore. Billy is so much more. Including a lot stronger.  
He presses down harder, cutting off the air completely, looking to hear the lovely sound of cartilage cracking and splintering...

“Stop.” A voice says.  
A dangerous voice.

Billy snaps his gaze up from the struggling Hopper and sees Steve standing right there in front of them. For a moment, he's too surprised to do much other than stare at him.

“Let him go...” Steve says, clearly conflicted. “This isn't you, Billy.”

Billy hesitates, then lifts his leg off Hopper's throat, completely ignoring the coughing policeman. “Steve...” He smiles a little, strangely nervous. The only real threat to his plan is suddenly within reach and it's almost too good to be true. “It's good to see you.”  
Steve watches him with soft eyes filled with sadness. “Is it?” He smiles, but it is glaringly fake. “You're kind of acting like a douche again, you know.”  
Billy steps over Hopper and carefully approaches Steve. “I got a little carried away.” He notes that Steve doesn't back away. Good. Just a little closer... “I've missed you.”

Now there is a flash of pain in Steve's eyes. He draws a shivering breath. “I'm sorry, Billy... I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm so sorry. I didn't know...”

Billy frowns, worried the words might reach the real Billy, and so he steps close enough to reach out for Steve. “It's okay.” He gently urges Steve into his embrace, hugging him close, lifting one hand to gently pet Steve's neck. “Don't worry about it. Everything is going to be fine.”  
All it will take is a good grip on that neck and then Billy won't have any trouble snapping it. He lets his hand rest on Steve's nape.  
Steve shivers, speaks softly and so very low. “I'm sorry...”  
Billy smirks, his fingers spread and prepare to get a good grip. Inside him, the real Billy stirs....

Steve's right arm suddenly moves, there is a sharp pain in Billy's gut and he exhales a shocked sound as his body arches automatically away from Steve.

Backing up a step, already unsteady on his feet, staring down with utter disbelief, Billy struggles to realize what just happened; why there is something jabbed into his stomach. He glances back up at Steve's deathly pale face and sends him a quizzical look of his own. “You...?”

“I'm sorry.” Steve whispers in a broken voice.  
Billy staggers back another step, wheezing a harsh laugh. “Fuck you.” He almost loses his balance, shuffles back another step or two, but he's weakening by the second.  
Steve closes his eyes when Billy collapses, feeling too guilty to watch, and only absently notes Hopper getting back up on his feet, still coughing, and El appearing by his side.  
It's over.

Everything hurts. It feels like every bone in his body is aching. His head aches as well.  
His thoughts are sluggish and something tells him he doesn't really want to wake up anyways. There is too much he has to deal with if he wakes up.  
So he doesn't want to wake up, but he wakes up nonetheless. 

Groaning softly, he rolls over on his side, feeling how that makes everything hurt even more, and several seconds pass before he manages to open his eyes.  
He hears voice. Somebody nearby is talking. He recognizes those voices.  
Glancing over, he sees Steve Harrington talking to someone he can't see the face of. He frowns.

It's still dark, so not too much time has passed, they are still outside the building where the portal had been opened once. That means there is still a possibility to make things right.  
He can't feel the hybrids, but odds are that some are still alive. If he can reach them...

Defying his aching body, he manages to push himself up on his knees, nausea rolls over him but he ignores it, and he draws a deep breath to stabilize himself. He will only get one last chance at this.  
He can't fail.  
Drawing another deep breath, he is about to reach out for the hybrids, but then there is something cold against his temple and there is the familiar sound of a gun being cocked.  
He glances up and sees Hopper standing there, holding the gun and looking very ready to use it. “Don't.” Hopper says, no, orders.

Center hesitates, weighs his options and the odds of success, then he closes his eyes and slowly lifts his hands in surrender.   
It doesn't matter how the deaths of Left and Right hurt, how much anger he feels, Center knows he's beaten.  
For now.

When Hopper pulls him up on his feet, Center struggles a little to stay upright, but is eventually marched over to where Harrington is talking to what he can now see is Joyce Byers. The girl, El or Jane or whatever name she goes by these days, is kneeling next to the fallen Billy Hargrove.  
“Found our scapegoat.” Hopper declares.  
Center almost smiles. He'd clearly underestimated these people.

“How is he?” Hopper asks.  
Steve merely shakes his head. “She can't reach him.”  
El looks up at them. “He's too strong.”

The young boy who had once been the host of the Hive Mind pokes his head out from where he'd been hiding behind his mother. “We should try heat again.”  
Joyce nods. “I think so too. It worked then, it'll work now.”

“We're going to have to hurry.” Steve mumbles, looking at Billy's pale face. “We have no idea how long he'll be out.”

Center sees the massive syringe lying next to Hargrove's form and concludes they must have managed to sedate him somehow. He feels another flicker of reluctant admiration for these people.  
“What about him?” Joyce asks, nodding towards Center.  
Ah, yes, Center is somewhat curious about that as well, so he glances over at Hopper and raises his eyebrows in a silent challenge.  
Hopper smirks. “Don't worry. Our little friend here is going to make sure everyone knows he and his friends were to blame for the fire at the army base and what happened there.”

Steve kneels down next to Billy. “You deal with him. We'll bring Billy back.”  
Center snorts a laugh. “Give it up, kid. He's not the one you knew.” He had never been a saint, but after joining Cerberus; Center had become quite different from the man he once was.   
The words only puts a hard smile on Steve's face and there is spiteful confidence in his dark eyes. “You're wrong.” He turns his focus back to Billy. “I can bring him back.”

A small distance away, the demogorgon watches them, growls softly, then quietly withdraws into the shadows.


End file.
